Toyota Transport, the automaker’s in-house vehicle transportation trucking company, added its first car hauler that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG). The Long Beach, Calif.-based truck and trailer emits 85% less overall particulate matter and 10% less carbon dioxide than its diesel-powered counterpart.

The CNG truck was commissioned by Toyota and designed and built in collaboration with Peterbilt and Cottrell, Inc., the truck and trailer manufacturers.

The placement of alternate fuel tanks presented a challenge for car haulers utilizing a nine-car trailer with an over-the-cab head rack. Working with Toyota, Peterbilt and Cottrell were able to create a tractor-and-trailer combination that accommodated alternate fuel tanks, without compromising the extra vehicle hauling space of the head rack. This marks the first full car hauler trailer with head rack that Cottrell has manufactured onto a CNG truck.

Toyota Transport’s southern California vehicle delivery operations in Long Beach and Mira Loma have 32 trucks in service, and the group delivers approximately 200,000 vehicles annually. Most of its car haulers average more than 100,000 miles per year. With plans to deploy the truck out of Long Beach as a test, the company will evaluate the performance as well as compare the efficiency versus the current diesel trucks. The CNG truck is expected to drive an average of 7,000 to 8,000 miles per month.

The purchase of the truck advances Toyota’s own environmental endeavors and efforts in its support of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay program, the public-private initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution created by freight transportation in corporate supply chains.