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Alliance AutoGas, Roush CleanTech initiate progress

June 17, 2020 By    

Separated only by a Work Truck Show aisle at the sprawling Indiana Convention Center in March, two strong advocates for propane autogas championed new products, projects and partnerships created to help grow the market in the United States.

Photo of propane-fueled 2018 Ford F-650

McAbee Trucking and Roush CleanTech highlighted their partnership during The Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, where they exhibited a 2018 Ford F-650. Photo by LP Gas staff

Stuart Weidie and Todd Mouw are familiar names in propane autogas circles – Weidie the president of Alliance AutoGas, a Blossman Gas company, and Mouw the president of fuel system supplier Roush CleanTech. Both say the fuel can provide significant operational cost and environmental benefits to those who adopt it.

“I just love the story we have – the versatility of the fuel, whether it’s [transporting] kids, water, serving LAX airport or delivering mail for the U.S. Postal Service,” says Mouw, recounting recent Roush efforts to fuel fleet vehicles across industries. “Propane’s there – it can deliver the goods.”

Mouw stood in front of a 2018 Ford F-650 that showcased Roush’s new partnership with McAbee Trucking, a freight shipping and trucking company based in Blacksburg, South Carolina, that delivers packages for the U.S. Postal Service. At the show, McAbee announced plans to purchase eight propane-fueled trucks, with each burning about 6,000 gallons of propane a year, Mouw notes.

“Whether it’s a transit agency, a school bus application, a mail carrier or their own fleet, there’s a big market there. There’s a lot of potential,” Mouw says of propane marketer opportunities. “When you look at the class 4-7 market and the percentage of penetration, it’s a quarter of 1 percent. There are a lot of trucks out there and fleets we haven’t touched yet.”

Propane industry fleets

While opportunities exist for propane marketers to fuel commercial fleet vehicles, Weidie is sharpening Alliance AutoGas’ focus to help the propane industry transition its own vehicles to operate on autogas. The company, he says, has worked hard over the years to change the perception that it’s an exclusive club.

“Whatever we can do to enable and support our industry members to get vehicles running on propane, we’re there to do that,” Weidie says.


Stuart Weidie discusses new 7.3-liter Ford engine, autogas market growth

Blossman Gas President and CEO Stuart Weidie, who’s also the president of Alliance AutoGas, speaks with LP Gas’ Brian Richesson about the autogas market.


To make inroads across the country, Alliance AutoGas is working directly with state propane associations to inform them of the autogas-related offerings available to their respective members, as well as to install conversion and service centers in strategic locations. As of May, Alliance AutoGas was working with about 10 states whose members have expressed an interest in autogas, particularly for service and manager vehicles, Weidie says.

At The Work Truck Show, Alliance AutoGas displayed its new aftermarket autogas system in a 2020 Ford F-250, featuring Ford’s new 7.3-liter V-8 engine, known for its added horsepower and torque. The engine, which replaces the 6.8-liter model, can fuel a variety of vehicle platforms.

“It’s perfect for the service vehicles that we have in our industry, but also it’s really a good application for the F-750, when you have barrel sizes of 3,000 gallons or less and you’re not operating in mountainous areas,” Weidie says.

Propane autogas bi-fuel systems power more than 55 percent of the vehicles in Blossman Gas’ fleet, including 80 F-750 bobtails. The company, Weidie says, saves more than $800,000 in fuel costs without the current fuel tax credit and over $1 million with it.

“Our industry seems to be focused on having a propane bobtail, which is perfectly appropriate, but right now we can do service vehicles, sales vehicles, owner and manager vehicles, which provides an opportunity for our industry to adopt it,” Weidie says. “That’s going to give us more confidence as an industry to go out and try to promote it to customers and prospective customers.”

Building the industry’s confidence in autogas is a means to growing the market – and a fundamental step that must be taken now, Weidie says.

“In this industry, we get accused of being the guys who rest on our laurels – we’ve been here for 100 years and aren’t innovating,” Mouw says. “But if you look around the booth … and you see some of the stuff that’s going on, there’s a lot of investment and a lot of smart people thinking about how to keep us relevant.”

Featured photo courtesy of Alliance AutoGas

About the Author:

Brian Richesson is the editor in chief of LP Gas Magazine. Contact him at brichesson@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3748.

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