Waste Management of Corona is the principal solid waste collection company in the Corona/Moreno Valley region of the South Coast AQMD. Waste Management has committed to converting their fleet of diesel refuse collection vehicles to compressed and liquefied natrual gas. This conversion process was slowed by recent isses with the Mack E7G natural gas engine. These issues have been allievated by purchasing the Cummins L Gas Plus natural gas engine.
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Waste Management selected the Cummins L Gas Plus engine engine in lieu of the Mack E7G engine. The Mack engine has experienced some technical issues pertaining to reliability and durability. The Cummins L Gas Plus engine has demonstrated acceptable reliability, maintenance, and operations costs. The natural gas engines do, however, have higher maintenance and operations costs as compared to diesel engines. Onsite refueling stations at the Waste Management Corona and Moreno Valley facilities are adequate to refuel the current fleet of natrual gas trucks. Waste Management Corona operates an LNG refueling facility; Moreno Valley has an onsite CNG refueling station.
Waste Management is accelerating the conversion of the Corona/Moreno Valley refuse collection vehicle fleet to alternative fuel. This project added ten additional natural gas vehicles to the Waste Management fleet. Nine of the refuse collection trucks use compressed natural gas; these are deployed at the Moreno Valley location. The tenth truck is fueled with liquefied natural gas and is based at the Waste Management Corona facility. In addition to the purchase of natural gas refuse collection vehicles, this Clean Transportation Funding project also included facility modifications to allow onsite maintenance of gaseous fuel vehicle, as well as additional training for Waste Management vehicle maintenance personnel.
According to Waste Management, the Cummins L Gas Plus-equipped trucks are operating with acceptable reliability and reasonable operations and maintenance costs. No technical issues have been identified by Waste Mangement. In the past, onboard natural gas fuel capacity has been an issue with some refuse collection vehicle operators. This has been resolved by Waste Management; the new trucks are equipped with natural gas storage vessels on top of the truck body. This has eliminated the need to refuel the trucks during a normal workday.
All ten natural gas refuse collection vehicles have been received, accepted, and placed into revenue service. The mechanic training and facility modifications have been completed with no issues identified.
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