Cube Van gas mileage?

[BobLoblaw]

Hey guys. Recent a 'route' came open near my home town for a package delivery service. They require me to buy and paint a 14-16' cube van. The job seems to pay fairly well, but with gas ever on the rise, and team that with repairs, it could make the profits much smaller. What kind of gas mileage does a 14-16' cub van have? The route requires up to 130-145KM's a day. Is propane a better alternative if available?

 

I've never been an owner operator or owned a cube van, so anything anyone could tell me about the job or the van (especially) would be appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

[88pathoffroad]

I dunno...I think 99% of the box vans I've seen are all diesel and they can't get more than 8-12 MPG tops. I used to drive an Isuzu NPR bucket truck with the 4-cyl diesel and it got miserable mileage as well as having terrible power. Have you tried looking up truck or equipment resellers to ask?

[Fukinitupagain]

I don't know much about cube trucks but I do know that propane is a pretty good alternative right now. The thing is you don't get that much better gas milage but propane is only like $1.20 a gallon right now. It's actually called CNG (compressed natural gas) & there might be a filling station near you & if not you can alwasy get one installed at your home pretty cheap. Not to mention that this method as been around for a couple of decades so it's not "new technology," plus here in the states we have an over abundance of natural gas (much of the world does actually) that nobody really does much with.

 

Now I know, I now what you are saying in your head "but what if I get in a wreck & there is fire, propane is flamable & my car might blow up!" (thats what all of the envior-Nazis have to say against CNG). Yes, & so is gasoline & diesel! There is a roofing company around here that does it & they really like it. Bottom line is it's better for the enviroment (Christ now I sound like one of the enviro-Nazis), cheaper to purchase & the overhead is not that big of a deal (it's much more cheaper to convert to CNG than bio-diesel)

[msavides]

I don't know much about cube trucks but I do know that propane is a pretty good alternative right now. The thing is you don't get that much better gas milage but propane is only like $1.20 a gallon right now. It's actually called CNG (compressed natural gas) & there might be a filling station near you & if not you can alwasy get one installed at your home pretty cheap. Not to mention that this method as been around for a couple of decades so it's not "new technology," plus here in the states we have an over abundance of natural gas (much of the world does actually) that nobody really does much with.

 

Now I know, I now what you are saying in your head "but what if I get in a wreck & there is fire, propane is flamable & my car might blow up!" (thats what all of the envior-Nazis have to say against CNG). Yes, & so is gasoline & diesel! There is a roofing company around here that does it & they really like it. Bottom line is it's better for the enviroment (Christ now I sound like one of the enviro-Nazis), cheaper to purchase & the overhead is not that big of a deal (it's much more cheaper to convert to CNG than bio-diesel)

 

 

 

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Propane (LP) are 2 different things. You must be talking about CNG costing 1.20 /gal cause propane is like 3.20/gal here.

Edited June 24, 2008 by msavides

[88pathoffroad]

Yeah, I looked into CNG conversions for my Dad's van and the only refueling stations for CNG are the State Motor Pool (not public) and some other private fleet place (also not public). A compressor capable of making your own CNG at home costs like $8000.

[GrimGreg]

Now I know, I now what you are saying in your head "but what if I get in a wreck & there is fire, propane is flamable & my car might blow up!" (thats what all of the envior-Nazis have to say against CNG). Yes, & so is gasoline & diesel! There is a roofing company around here that does it & they really like it. Bottom line is it's better for the enviroment (Christ now I sound like one of the enviro-Nazis), cheaper to purchase & the overhead is not that big of a deal (it's much more cheaper to convert to CNG than bio-diesel)

 

It's not the flamability as much as the compressed part. The fact that if the pressure vessel ruptures it is a lot more violent than a gas/fuel tank rupture.

[Fukinitupagain]

CNG at home costs like $8000.

Jesus thats what they quoted you guys?!!! I'd say piss on that too. My uncle owns a tombstone building company (I don't know what the technical term is) & like 10 or so years ago he had one installed at his work for like $2000 (plus he was able to write it off owing to somebusiness expenses or something). Hell I guess the cost of installment has gone way the hell up.

 

And yeah I am talking of CNG not propane. I was thinking thats what he was talking about cause I've only heard of a few vehicles that run off of propane (a bunch of equipement runns off of propane though-floor buffers, etc.) but I've heard/seen quite a bit of vehicles that run off of CNG.

 

It's not the flamability as much as the compressed part. The fact that if the pressure vessel ruptures it is a lot more violent than a gas/fuel tank rupture.

The compressed aspect of it is a bit hairy but at the same time I used to drive a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, & if you know anything about those cars the gas tank sits right over your legs so if you are in a front end collision you're pretty well f*cked. My point is that there are pros & cons to everything, but if you get serious about it you can figure a way to minimize the cons of it & make it safer.

[88pathoffroad]

Carbon-fiber CNG tanks are very safe nowadays. It'd take one hell of a wreck to rupture one.

[SC88Pathy]

(it's much more cheaper to convert to CNG than bio-diesel)

 

Care to explain this?

 

The only costs involved in "converting" to bio-diesel are replacing your filters as the bio-diesel cleans deposits in your tank and fuel lines. Otherwise there are no changes that need to be made (one exception is a fuel tank warmer if you live in cold climates).

 

I think you're thinking of converting to vegetable oil.

[Fukinitupagain]

Care to explain this?

I think you're thinking of converting to vegetable oil.

I am sorry I meant veggie oil.

 

I don't know why diesel is so expensive right now anyways, other than the goverment trying to make people not buy thyem because they are 'bad for the enviorment' (nevermind that diesel engines last longer & are tougher than hell). Hell all diesel is, is pretty much a bi-product (spelling?) or a waste product anyway. It's nto like it has to be refined like petrol, so there shouldn't be much if any overhead on regular diesel, right?

 

But yeah I meant vegatable oil earlier, sorry.

[SC88Pathy]

Anyways getting back to the topic, it sounds kind of fishy. Most jobs like this would provide you with the van, or at least help you with the purchase price. Same goes for fuel costs.

 

Well what you really should do is find out what kind of mileage (kilometerage?) a van of that size gets. From there figure out how much you should expect to spend on diesel (most cube vans are diesel). How prolific is bio-diesel where you are? If it isn't used much you could make your own bio-diesel and save a lot (there are a number of companies that sell make it yourself bio-diesel kits). If a lot of people use it though chances are any sources of used vegetable oil are already taken.

 

Just did some google research and it looks like most newer box vans get between 10 and 20 mpg. Apparently the Dodge Sprinter vans get better mileage than most...

 

So I did some quick math for you (this is all miles and US dollars you'll have to convert this all to Canadian dollars and kilometers yourself):

90 miles per day at 15 mpg = 6 gallons of gas

Diesel is currently around $5 a gallon here so you're looking at about $30 in fuel a day, or $150 a week.

 

And based upon eBay listings you're looking at around $8,000 - $10,000 for the van itself (assuming you want a van from this century).

Edited June 25, 2008 by SC88Pathy

[BobLoblaw]

Anyways getting back to the topic, it sounds kind of fishy. Most jobs like this would provide you with the van, or at least help you with the purchase price. Same goes for fuel costs.

 

Well what you really should do is find out what kind of mileage (kilometerage?) a van of that size gets. From there figure out how much you should expect to spend on diesel (most cube vans are diesel). How prolific is bio-diesel where you are? If it isn't used much you could make your own bio-diesel and save a lot (there are a number of companies that sell make it yourself bio-diesel kits). If a lot of people use it though chances are any sources of used vegetable oil are already taken.

 

Just did some google research and it looks like most newer box vans get between 10 and 20 mpg. Apparently the Dodge Sprinter vans get better mileage than most...

 

So I did some quick math for you (this is all miles and US dollars you'll have to convert this all to Canadian dollars and kilometers yourself):

90 miles per day at 15 mpg = 6 gallons of gas

Diesel is currently around $5 a gallon here so you're looking at about $30 in fuel a day, or $150 a week.

 

And based upon eBay listings you're looking at around $8,000 - $10,000 for the van itself (assuming you want a van from this century).

 

 

Biodiesel just got here but it's rare. There's nothing fishy about the job. You are an owner operator for a package delivery company. Essentially it's your own business. You work a particular 'route'. This particular route requires 130-145kms a day - which to me sounded like a lot. The company gives you about $18 buck a day to help with gas. My question was exactly what you stated: What are the gas mileage (KM's) of a diesel cube van? Thanks for your google results tho. I want to be able to do the math and figure out if it is worth while buying a van and maintaining it for the money they are offering (roughly $60-63K). The price of gas makes me worried as it could go up to astronomical heights.

 

I was hoping that someone here would have experience with these vans, and be able to tell the maintainence costs and the fuel economy (they calculate the new fuel economy in an empty van, which is completely different from what I'd be driving).

also, the vans for around $10000 are high KM's and not as fuel efficient as the ones you mentioned in the tests. I do appreciate all your help tho. Keep it coming if you find out more. It's a pretty big decision for me.