Bimbo Bakeries USA is leasing 16 natural gas trucks for its California trucking fleet.

Bimbo has a fueling agreement in place with Clean Energy Fuels to fuel the fleet of Class 8, heavy duty trucks using Clean Energy's network of public-access CNG stations throughout Northern California. 

Bimbo was recently given $789,000 from a Pennsylvania alternative fuels grant to convert 81 delivery trucks to CNG, but a representative from Clean Energy Fuels said that the fleet being leased in California was not related to those grant funds.

Bimbo Bakeries is the largest bakery company in the United States, producing brands like Sarah Lee, Thomas’, and Boboli. Based the success of this initial investment, Bimbo will explore options for adding more natural gas trucks to its fleet which serves over 65 bakeries nationwide.

"As a leader in the baking industry, BBU understands that it has a responsibility to invest in and raise sustainability standards,” said Jim McKeown, director of environment and sustainability for BBU and Grupo Bimbo. “We are continuously looking for ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and our collaboration with Clean Energy to deploy natural gas trucks is an important step in our company-wide green initiatives."

The initial deployment of natural gas trucks is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 580 metric tons, says Clean Energy Fuels. 

Clean Energy Fuels is a provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America with approximately 500 fueling stations throughout the U.S. and Canada.