OKLAHOMA CITY (May 2, 2014) — Truck stop chain Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores L.L.C. will introduce fast-fill compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling capabilities for heavy-duty trucks and a CNG fueling option for passenger vehicles at travel stops in Albuquerque, N.M., and Williams, Ariz.
The locations will be the first public-access travel stops along the 960-mile stretch of I-40 between Amarillo, Texas, and Barstow, Calif., to offer CNG, according to Oklahoma City-based Love's. The announcement follows an agreement between the firm and Kansas-based Seaboard Foods—an integrated food company with a refrigerated foods transportation division—to expand Love's Fast-Fill CNG offerings into new parts of the U.S.
“With our growing fast-fill CNG network, Love's will be able to offer customers convenient accessibility from Oklahoma City to the West Coast because of this partnership,” said Bill Cashmareck, general manager of natural gas at Love's. “Love's in-lane CNG will be a reliable and cost-effective full-service solution for motorists and fleets who want to use their existing fueling cards and also need diesel for their refrigerated trailers.”
Terry Holton, president and CEO of Seaboard Foods, the anchor customer at the new CNG locations, said the company “is excited to partner with Love's and continues to add CNG trucks to our fleet. CNG allows us to reduce our emissions, which fits our sustainability and environmental stewardship goals.”
Love's said its Fast-Fill CNG gives professional drivers a similar experience to filling up with diesel fuel or diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). Its CNG stations are designed to deliver a fill rate of greater than 10 gallons per minute, meaning a driver can fill a 100-gallon equivalent tank in 10 minutes or less.
The company previously announced expansion of its Fast-Fill CNG network at 11 travel stops across Texas and Oklahoma and an additional location in Burbank, Ohio.
The family-owned and operated chain, founded in 1964 by Tom Love, operates more than 310 locations and 190 Love's Truck Tire Care centers in 39 states and has an approximate growth rate of 20 stores per year.