Today Penske Truck Leasing announced that by early next year it will have fully equipped 370 of its major U.S. fueling locations with bulk diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). The truck lessor said it is doing so to accommodate an increasing number of trucks within its fleet that are equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust-aftertreatment systems. Penske noted that as of now, the work has been completed at over 100 locations.
“We’ve made this investment to ensure that our customers have easy access to the bulk quantities of DEF they need and we are on-track to complete the project in early 2012,” said Jennifer Sockel, vp—administration for Penske Truck Leasing. “Moving to these systems will also alleviate the hundreds of thousands of 2.5-gallon plastic containers that would have been used.”
Penske currently operates and maintains about 25,000 trucks with SCR technology, which is up from over 6,000 at the start of this year.
Right now there are over 400 U.S. Penske Truck Leasing locations that provide fuel in addition to full-service truck leasing, consumer and commercial truck rental, and maintenance. These facilities will now house anywhere from 330-to 2,000-gal DEF on-island systems. DEF will also be available in non-bulk quantities at all Penske locations across North America.
According to Penske, providing an on-island system at major U.S. facilities will “improve the customer experience through efficiencies and a seamless transaction process.” The lessor said a new point-of-sale system will provide its customers with detailed information on the amount of fuel and DEF that is consumed, to allow for increased management of operating costs.
Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P., headquartered in Reading, PA., is a joint venture of Penske Corp., Penske Automotive Group and General Electric.