What’s next for Nexio’s propane-powered bobtail

It’s been nearly 18 months since Horace Mast stood at a podium in Reno, Nevada, and outlined his company’s vision to bring a propane-powered bobtail to the U.S. market.

A lot has happened since that 2024 Western Propane Trade Show & Convention, which jump-started Nexio on a busy road that’s led it closer to making its plan a reality. Mast, then the COO and chief technical officer, has ascended to president of the company, currently headquartered in Nacogdoches, Texas, with plans to build a new corporate campus and manufacturing facility in Lufkin.

Nexio has featured the bobtail, with a 7.2-liter, spark-ignited V8 supercharged propane engine, at propane industry meetings and trade shows throughout 2025. It’s held ride-and-drives and allowed industry members to get up close and personal with the vehicle. It’s elicited conversation and feedback and built momentum around a product that will finally allow propane marketers to run their delivery vehicles on a fuel they sell for a living.

In the background, though, is an endeavor that seems all too familiar to some industry members, who recall similar attempts that didn’t result in a consistently successful product (the Freightliner S2G) or even reach the market (the Cummins B6.7 propane engine).

But Nexio leaders contend that what it’s building toward is unique to the propane industry because, in fact, the product isn’t new. Its engine has been powering applications in Europe since 2021, while Mast and Nexio CEO Gary Winemaster collaborated previously on truck and school bus engines when Winemaster headed alternative fuel engine specialist Power Solutions International, as founder and CEO, and Mast was leading his own performance automotive and engineering company.

“We have years of experience knowing what it takes to make an engine from the inside reliable on propane,” Winemaster says.

So, they view Nexio’s U.S. plans as being among the next chapter in their established careers.

▶ Propane industry partner

Mast says a difference maker for Nexio is the fact that it will go to market with a product designed and manufactured specifically for the propane industry. The company is investing in the industry and wants to work directly alongside propane businesses. Marketers won’t have to wait in line, jockeying for position behind other types of commercial truck customers.

“Every single one of the marketers is important to us and will get that concierge-type treatment no matter how big or small they are,” Winemaster says. “We’re going to address all those customers as if it’s our business.”

According to Nexio, this customer-first treatment began with the feedback it has gathered at industry events.

“The final product addresses all of the inputs that we’ve received from the customer,” Winemaster says.

Among the changes for the U.S. truck design: reconfigured steps that are wider, extend out farther with more distance between them. It’s a move away from what some industry members initially felt was “a ladder feeling” to one where it’s now an easier ingress and egress.

“That was the one thing we felt was important to address,” Winemaster says. “Now we look at all the value that we can provide: the safety, the center-of-gravity improvements, some of the braking systems that are integrated into the truck, the turning radius, the 20-decibels-lower noise over diesel, the attenuated sound cabin. There’s a lot of things that we’ve done to really address making the driver experience positive.”

The updated features are in addition to the foundational qualities that Nexio leaders have touted from the start, including an engine with 330 horsepower at 2,400 rpm and torque of 775 lb.-ft. at 1,900 rpm; an Allison 3500 RDS automatic transmission; and an idle-friendly engine that won’t need diesel exhaust fluids or aftertreatment.

Winemaster also underscores the total cost-of-ownership benefits, including $25,000 in annual fuel savings over diesel.

Nexio will incorporate its latest changes and features into the next part of the program: building a fleet of trucks for propane marketers to demo over the coming winter and into 2026.

“We’re building our certification and demo fleet,” Mast says. “The new cabin, the U.S. requirements for lights and the U.S.-designed steps that we’ve talked so much about – that is going into our fleet of vehicles that is being assembled. We’ll use many of them for certification purposes, and then we’re going to have a fleet of around seven vehicles that are going to be directly in the hands of marketers.”

The demonstration vehicles will help give Nexio additional data and feedback from the field prior to launching the production vehicle, Mast says.

“A lot of the marketers are looking for ‘How does it perform in winter? How does it perform in altitude?’” Winemaster says. “We have more power than the diesel that’s in the market, but the marketers have to go through and feel it, drive it, experience it. That’s what’s really going to get the momentum going. It’s not ‘OK, we looked at it, we drove it in a parking lot, turns great.’ But the day-to-day usage of the truck in their day-to-day role is what’s going to be really important for us, and I think really a positive part of our program.”

▶ PERC support

In July, Nexio received support from the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), which approved $6 million to help facilitate Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board certification of the company’s propane-powered medium/heavy-duty Class 7 and 8 trucks, Class 5-7 stripped chassis and 7.2-liter V8 engine for the U.S. market. In addition to the propane bobtail, these configurations would allow for other commercial fleet applications, such as beverage trucks and day cab tractors.

“It’s a big statement for us that the industry is participating in our certification,” Winemaster says. “I can assure you that the $6 million is a portion of what we’re investing.”

Before approving the project in a way that would give PERC’s executive committee final sign-off on a contract with Nexio, councilors held a lengthy discussion. PERC President and CEO Tucker Perkins provided an overview of a comment period that netted 14 responses, split evenly between those in favor and against the project.

The positive comments highlighted the importance of the industry having a dedicated propane-fueled bobtail, while the negative comments touched on concerns about the truck design, the service network and PERC’s history with funding other propane-fueled bobtail initiatives, such as the Freightliner and Cummins projects, Perkins shared during the meeting. PERC had approved millions of dollars for Freightliner and Cummins, the latter of which didn’t get to the finish line.

Asked about the negative comments tied to the funding request, Winemaster says, “Most were [related to] past experiences that they’ve had with propane vehicles. We can’t do anything about that. All we can do is bring a good product that’s going to be reliable, that’s going to meet the needs that the industry has been hoping for.

“We have to earn our way, and we have always done that in every industry that we’ve been in,” he continues. “We are very comfortable with our product and the ability for it to succeed.”

▶ Service and support

While Nexio has placed much of its attention on showcasing the truck and meeting propane industry members this year, it’s also been growing a team that will help execute its plan.

Early this year, it hired Joe Serbin as vice president of after-sales and service customer success, recently appointed Ryan Gaul as COO and is adding a chief software engineer.

Industry conversation about propane-fueled vehicles always centers on the importance of trained propane technicians in a strong service network, and that’s no different with Nexio.

Scott Petroleum COO Ryan Brewer rode in the truck during the LP Gas Growth Summit. He called the quiet ride a “pleasant experience,” pointing to the spacious and comfortable cab, the integration of safety-focused technology and great visibility.

“The concept of the truck is a strong step forward for our industry,” Brewer shares with LP Gas. “Ultimately, how well it’s adopted will depend on cost and reliability compared to the competition. My main questions focus on service and parts availability.”

Propane marketers will want clarity on an established dealer network or plan to support maintenance, Brewer adds.

Mast received questions about service during his initial presentation last year in Reno. He said that the company plans to build a service network across the country.

Winemaster points to the team’s previous experience servicing propane-powered school buses and other engines as an indicator of what’s to come.

“Service and reliability uptime are the most important,” he says.

With the next steps focused on vehicle demos, Nexio hopes to begin rolling out the production vehicle by late 2026 or early 2027.

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