The California Yellow Cab of Orange County has become the first business to use a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered Ford Transit Van in California. The company has purchased an initial 10 taxis in order to serve the greater Los Angeles area. By 2012, there should be more than 100 other CNG Transits taxis running around California as Yellow Cab of Orange County has ordered 50 other vans and Yellow Cab of Anaheim has placed an order for 69.
“Our goal is to convert our entire fleet to alternative fuels, so bringing the CNG Transit Connect Taxis into service is an exciting step in that direction,” said Tim Conlon, president and general manager of California Yellow Cab. “The drivers are excited too. They have been lining up to be among the first to get behind the wheel of a CNG-powered taxi.”
The vans are converted by a Dallas-based company, BAF Technologies. Fuel economy stays the same with the modified 2.0 liter inline four cylinder: approximately 22 mpg in the city and 27 on the highway. But due to CNG’s much lower cost, the new Transit taxis can be filled up for roughly half the cost of conventional gasoline. CNG is also a Clean Energy approved alternative as the van’s tailpipe emissions are extremely close to zero.
Source: Ford
