Tour of Houston Distributing Company/ Freedom CNG Filling Station with John Athon 4/11/2015
On April 11, 2015 members of our team had the opportunity walk through the CNG infrastructure process with Mr. John Athon, the Business Development Director and Partner of Freedom CNG. We met him at the Freedom CNG filling station that was built to service the Houston Distributing Company Fleet and is open for public use at 7155 High Life Dr., Houston, TX.
We began our tour watching as vehicles ranging in size from a standard delivery van to a trash truck to an over the road semi truck fueled their vehicles. The time it took to fuel the vehicles was astonishingly quick with a full tank averaging 12-15 minutes for a large vehicle. Unlike a regular gas station, there was no noticeable odor and the ground had no stains from spills - testament to the cleaner aspects of CNG Mr. Athon told us that CNG dissipates rapidly in the air if there is a leak and because it’s a gas, CNG will not contaminate the ground.
The team had the opportunity to learn more about the process of how this type of filling station works, its costs and how it’s maintained to provide optimal service to its clients. We learned that a CNG filling station requires a 500psi “tie-in” from a natural gas pipeline. The gas comes into the station and passes through a scrubber that removes impurities and moisture from the gas. After it’s cleaned the gas goes to the compressors and then on to storage tanks until the pumps are used and the process starts again replace the fuel used.
Mr. Athon very generously gave us some important facts about the relationship of his business, Freedom CNG, and its relationship with Houston Metro.
Freedom CNG is building a new facility with Houston Metro as its primary anchor business : The CNG station being constructed for METRO will cost over $4M. Our NW Houston station (HDC) we toured cost $3.5M and had the infrastructure in place to expand capacity. The stated costs do not include the cost of the land.
- Capacity of the Filling station: The Capacity for the HDC station is around 1500 gallons per hour. Obviously the number of trucks that can fuel depends upon the fuel capacity the vehicles can hold. An AT&T van holds 22 gallons so we could fuel 68 of them an hour while an over the road tractor trailer hauling beer to and from the DFW area holds 160 gallons in its tank so we can only do 9 of those an hour.
- The 1500 gallons an hour number is the amount the CNG in storage and can use should we not turn on our equipment. If we turn on our compressors, then we can fuel while refilling our storage tanks.
- Business between Houston and Freedom CNG: Houston Metro is purchasing 53 buses this year and perhaps another 100 next year. They are looking to potentially add more fueling facilities in the coming years as well but are still in the process of making that decision.
-The time to build a new filling station: To build a new station takes around 90 days of actual construction. The part that takes the longest is the permitting process with the city and the county. We have to get approval of our engineering drawings, our environmental plans, etc. There is also the time it takes to get the equipment sent to us from our provider in Wisconsin and they have an 8-week wait time as of now. The new METRO station at Pinto Business Park should be open in September and ready to fuel the METRO buses and will be open to the public as well.
Mr. Athon told us that the key to his business is having a contract with a fleet of vehicles that will serve as an anchor for the CNG station. Freedom CNG is assured that it will be selling CNG without the uncertainty of wondering if a car or trucks will come along needing fuel. At the same time, they are able to provide fuel to the public and increase the infrastructure necessary to the continued development of CNG for transportation use. John Athon called this a “field of dreams scenario.” He believes that if the infrastructure is available, the demand will follow.
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