The City of Santa Monica, Calif. plans on buying 31 CNG capable F-150s from a Ford dealer in nearby Riverside, Calif.The City of Santa Monica, Calif. plans on replacing its older vehicles with 31 new Ford F-150 pickups that run on compressed natural gas (CNG).
The move to the CNG equipped trucks is in keeping with the city’s reduced emissions policy. Fritts Ford in nearby Riverside, Calif., the only bidder, agreed to supply the trucks for $1,350,229, according to surfsantamonica.com.
The new trucks will replace 29 pickups that are between ten and 19 years old. A report to the city council recommending the purchase of the CNG trucks states that monthly pickup rental costs would run $878 per truck versus CNG pickup costs of “$138 per month to maintain the vehicle in-house” coupled with an “average cost of $362 in monthly depreciation.”
The new CNG pickups will replace 29 trucks and add two new vehicles to the city’s fleet. One of the new trucks will be used to pick up vendor supplies that have been abandoned on the beach.
The deadline for ordering a Ford produced CNG F-150 is July 1. The trucks are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
