Honda of America inaugura estación de GNC

On Wednesday, August 19th, Honda of America and Trillium CNG held the grand opening for a new compressed natural gas fueling station located at 24000 Honda Parkway, part of the Honda manufacturing campus Marysville, Ohio.

The station, which utilizes two Ariel JGQ compressors, is the first public CNG station located on a Honda property in North America. The station is part of Honda’s continuing effort to minimize the environmental impact of its operations.

“Honda considers the environmental impact of every aspect of our operations and this new CNG station will help reduce the impact of the delivery to our plants in Ohio of more than eight million parts each day,” said Tom Shoupe, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer, Honda of America Mfg., Inc. “For those carriers utilizing CNG trucks, and by encouraging more to do so, this new station will make a significant impact on emissions, and nicely complements the many environment efforts we make with our own manufacturing operations.”

The project was a coordinated effort between two of Ariel’s distributors, Trillium CNG and ANGI Energy systems, and worked to design, construct, and package the station. In addition, Trillium will manage, operate, and maintain the station now that it is open.

The fully automated station will primarily be used by many of Honda’s suppliers that deliver parts to the nearby Marysville assembly plant. For those suppliers who have not already converted to CNG, Honda hopes to encourage and facilitate suppliers and logistical partners to adopt their approach in support of Honda operations.

The CNG station is located at the interchange of Route 33 and Route 739 near Honda’s manufacturing and R&D operations and, according to Honda, is part of a strategy that has seen the company reduce the CO2 emissions of its parts shipments by more than 35 percent since 2009. The station will feature three Class 8 dispensers for over-the-road carriers and can also serve customers who drive CNG-fueled passenger cars as well.

“With two, 250 horsepower Ariel JGQ compressors, the Honda/TrilliumCNG station dispenses up to 20 gallons of gas equivalent per minute for up to 200 tractor trucks per day. To my knowledge, this is the largest and fastest public CNG station in the country in operation today. Kudos to Honda for their leadership,” said Brad Couch, Ariel CNG Business Development Manager.