Retrofit On CNG Ambulance To Move Forward This Week

Palm Desert is moving forward on converting a compressed natural gas powered ambulance that fire officials say has underperformed.

The ambulance, which was unveiled by the city in January 2010, only put out 82 miles per tank, well below the mandated average of 250 miles in Riverside County, according to Capt. Scott Visyak of the Riverside County Fire Department, which contracts with Palm Desert for its firefighting services.

“I’m going to instruct them to move forward with the re-modification of the unit,’’ said Stephen Aryan, assistant to the city manager.

He added that he asked BAF Technologies, one of two vendors involved, to buy back the CNG technology to help the city recoup its losses.

Richard Cromwell III, a consultant in alternative energy who worked with the city on the project, said BAF Technologies cannot buy the ambulance chassis because it does not deal with buying and selling vehicles.

"BAF Technologies is not a vehicle buyer and seller. BAF is a conversion company. They take existing vehicles and convert it to natural gas. That’s their job,'' Cromwell said.

He said he encouraged the city to contact Frazer Ambulance, the other company that contracted with the city.

Aryan confirmed Monday that the city plans to contact Fazer to see if they are interested in buying the chassis.

The city has four ambulances that run 24/7, and there are two backups, including the CNG ambulance, the captain said previously.

The Palm Desert City Council on March 24 to allocated $78,000 to exchange the CNG system for a diesel engine. The retrofit was expected to take a month.

The ambulance initially cost the city $186,000 to convert the emergency vehicle, according to the city.

The unit was built on a Ford E450 chassis by Frazer Ambulance at its Houston, TX facility over a six-month period.

The ambulance was the first CNG-powered emergency vehicle in the state and the nation.

Cromwell said the hiccup in the program was in the mileage range.

“The ambulance worked superbly. There was some misunderstanding in the range issues,’’ Cromwell said.

He said he went through all his files and did not find any reference to the mandated mileage requirements in Riverside County that caused the city to pull the plug on the program.

"We couldn’t find anything where the requirement was a 250 mile range. We could have done that in the first place,'' Cromwell said.