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The ongoing discussion of what fuel is best and most cost-effective to power work trucks carried over to this year’s Work Truck Show March 3-6 in Indianapolis. While talk of electric work trucks has hit a frenzy, according to most everyone who represented the propane industry, there was a strong sense among key propane vehicle stakeholders that propane would continue to have a strong niche, especially with Class 3-7 vehicles.

The five 3D printers at NASCAR’s Research & Technology center – two delivered in February and installed less than two weeks ago — are typically focused on composite parts and working on an updated stock car. But when racing came to a stop March 13 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a handful of NASCAR engineers wondered if the printers could be used to address the shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers. 

Ford announced Tuesday that it’s working with 3M and GE Healthcare to produce medical equipment and protective gear for healthcare workers to help address shortages in the fight against the coronavirus. Healthcare workers around the country have expressed concern about difficulties in attaining enough critical supplies, such as masks, gloves and ventilators, to deal with the influx of patients suffering from the highly contagious virus.

A largely untapped opportunity that shows long-term growth for propane is the on-road vehicle market. It’s a lucrative market that continues to mature. In 10 years, ROUSH CleanTech has put more than 20,000 propane vehicles on the roads, including commercial fleet vehicles and school buses. How does this relate to increasing propane sales? Well, fueling just one school bus with propane autogas equates to an average propane load for five residential homes per year combined.

As many schools across the U.S. transition to online learning due to closures brought about by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), some districts are using Wi-Fi equipped school buses to ensure students have internet access. In South Carolina, the State Department of Education (SCDE) is placing Wi-Fi-enabled school buses or mobile hotspots in various school districts across the state, according to Virgie Chambers, the deputy superintendent for the SCDE’s division of district operations and support. Chambers announced the initiative on Monday in a letter sent to school district superintendents and transportation directors.

USPS contractor McAbee Trucking purchased eight propane Autogas-fueled Ford F-750 delivery trucks that are contracted for parcel delivery routes between USPS locations in North and South Carolina. This marks the first time that some U.S. Postal Service packages are being delivered via propane autogas trucks. Each of McAbee’s trucks is equipped with a Ford 6.8L V10 engine and Roush CleanTech propane fuel system, which is 90% cleaner than the Environmental Protection Agency’s most stringent heavy-duty emission standard, according to Roush.

Across the U.S., school districts and transportation companies are adopting alternative-fuel vehicles as part of district and statewide initiatives to go green. While these alternative fuels can benefit the environment by reducing harmful emissions, they have also helped some operations save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in fuel and maintenance costs each year — particularly with propane buses.