LPG Spotlight: Eastern Propane & Oil

Eastern Propane & Oil has 70 bobtails that run on propane. (Photo courtesy of Eastern Propane & Oil)

According to Michael Gagne, Eastern Propane & Oil’s assistant vice president of fleet, the company has been converting vehicles to propane since the 1950s.

Today, just over half of the company’s fleet runs on propane, including 70 bobtails, 120 service vehicles, and 30 fuel oil and crane/rack trucks.

Running its vehicles on propane has several benefits for Eastern.

“It’s easier for them to get the supply,” says Gagne. He also says Eastern reaps fuel-cost benefits by running vehicles on propane.

Tom Manson has been Eastern’s CEO since 2015. When he started in this position, he knew he wanted to ramp up the company’s propane conversions.

“One of the first conversations Mike and I had was about accelerating our use of propane for our delivery vehicles,” Manson says. “And part of that was the cost of diesel and gasoline, and the wide fluctuations in that cost that occur.”

Gagne provides an example: If a vehicle that gets 10 miles per gallon of fuel travels 25,000 miles a year, it uses 2,500 gallons of fuel. Gasoline at $3.50 per gallon would cost a company $8,750 a year in fuel. Propane at $2 per gallon would cost a company $5,000 a year in fuel – for a savings of $3,750. And as a company adds more trucks, travels more miles and spends more years on the road, those savings only increase.

Another influence in the push to propane is emissions, according to Manson and Gagne. With increasing emissions standards, it was becoming clear that Eastern needed to address its diesel emissions. Propane’s clean-burning, low-emissions properties made sense for Eastern from an environmental, maintenance and cost perspective.

“Propane-powered vehicles are very clean burning … more environmentally friendly and as long as they’re maintained fairly well, the engines run clean, so you’re not getting carbon buildup like you would on diesel or gasoline,” Gagne says. “So, as long as you’re maintaining the vehicle, changing the oil on a maintenance schedule, the vehicles internally run very clean, so they last a lot longer. … They just run cleaner, and they burn very efficient. And it’s a green vehicle for the environment.”

Thanks to the propane engines, Eastern is saving money on multiple fronts.

“It’s not just the cost of the fuel,” Gagne explains. “It’s a cost savings on maintenance. You’re not repairing as much as you would.”

These savings mean that, despite the steep upfront cost of converting an engine to propane, “you could get your return on investment three, three-and-a-half years, between the fuel savings and maintenance savings,” says Gagne.

“Not only did it make sense to use propane – a fuel that we sell – but the alternatives were becoming challenging at that time,” says Manson. “I think that’s really what accelerated that in 2015, 2016 – that desire to convert to propane. You know, why don’t we use something that we sell?

“Where we have had the opportunity to use propane as the fuel for our vehicles, we’ve certainly done so, and that’s for a host of reasons, not only because we’re in the [propane] business,” says Manson. “Even if we weren’t … it would make sense to us. … It makes sense from a cost and maintenance point of view, and it makes sense from an environmental point of view. It really is a cleaner-burning fuel than gasoline or diesel.”

Company profile: Eastern Propane & Oil

Year founded // 1932
Headquarters // Rochester, New Hampshire
Founder // Charles V. Clement
Co-owner // Clement and Anderson family
Bobtails // 134
Annual gallon sales // Over 50 million
Employees // Around 535 during peak season (December-February)

For more LPG Spotlights:

LPG Spotlight: Lakes Gas

LPG Spotlight: L.G. Jordan Oil & Gas

LPG Spotlight: Crop Management Co.