The challenge
A municipal transit agency in Oklahoma came to TESCO with two problems at once. The first was technical: the agency needed new paratransit buses that run on compressed natural gas. The second was a matter of trust. The agency had been through a difficult experience with its prior bus distributor and was looking for a partner who would actually engineer the fuel-system conversion correctly rather than simply pass the order along.
CNG is a smart fuel for transit agencies. It burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel, its price is more stable over multi-year horizons, and agencies with their own fueling infrastructure can cut per-mile fuel costs substantially. But a CNG conversion done casually can shorten an engine's life dramatically, and a paratransit bus that spends its days on stop-and-go demand-response duty gives an engine nowhere to hide.
The TESCO solution
TESCO's sales reps worked with the agency to specify a Glaval Universal body built on the Ford E-450 platform, a proven paratransit combination with the floor plan flexibility the agency's wheelchair-lift routes required. TESCO then had a 40 GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent) compressed natural gas propulsion system installed, sized so the buses could run full service days without mid-shift refueling.
The detail that mattered most was invisible from the outside. Every unit was ordered with Ford's factory gaseous-fuel prep engine option. Gaseous fuels like CNG burn hotter and drier than liquid gasoline. Liquid fuel actually helps cool the valve train as it vaporizes, and a gaseous fuel provides none of that relief. Ford's gaseous prep package addresses this at the factory with hardened valves and valve seats designed to operate reliably at those higher temperatures. Skipping that option is the classic mistake in cut-rate CNG conversions, and it is why some converted fleets suffer premature valve and cylinder-head failures years before the body wears out.
By pairing the factory-prepped engine with a properly engineered fuel system, TESCO delivered buses whose drivetrains are designed for the fuel they will actually burn, not gasoline engines improvising on CNG.
The result
The agency put its new CNG Universals into demand-response service with an engine package built to live a full service life on gaseous fuel. Just as importantly, the agency gained what it had been missing: a distributor who treated the fuel-system engineering as part of the vehicle, not someone else's problem.
For transit agencies considering alternative fuels, this project is a useful template. The economics of CNG are real, but they only pencil out if the vehicles are specified correctly from the first line of the purchase order. TESCO's role is to make sure they are, coordinating body manufacturer, fuel-system installer, and factory engine options into one vehicle the maintenance department can depend on.
It also shows why the distributor relationship matters beyond the sale. An alternative-fuel bus is a system: engine, fuel storage, plumbing, and body have to work together, not as three vendors pointing at each other. TESCO coordinated body builder, fuel-system installer and factory engine options into one delivered vehicle.
Considering CNG, propane, or other alternative-fuel vehicles for your fleet? Talk to a TESCO sales rep about specifying them right.