For the first eight months of 2021, U.S. and Canadian Class 8 natural gas truck retail sales rose 24% year to date compared with the same time period in 2020, according to ACT Research’s recently released Alternative Fuels Quarterly. For context, total U.S. Class 8 sales were up 28% for the same period.

“Sales of NG-powered vehicles as reported by the six major truck OEMs, who account for approximately 60% of the heavy-duty natural gas market, were mixed in the June to August time period, with June experiencing a sizeable sequential gain and even more impressive year-over-year growth,” Steve Tam, vice president at ACT Research, said. “July natural gas Class 8 vehicle sales volumes suffered large declines, also reducing the YTD increase, while activity in August recovered, returning to solid short-term improvement despite lagging the year-ago comparison by a small margin. Looking at the most recent month, sales spiked 68% month over month but were 4% lower than the year-ago level.

“Besides sales, the Alternative Fuels Quarterly analyzes the change in existing and planned alternative fuel/power infrastructure and equipment developments. We’re seeing an overall increase in electric charging stations, both existing and planned, but a continuing decline of total natural gas stations, particularly those planned for the future. That said, we continue to see articles about natural gas use in transportation — as well as discussions about hydrogen fuel cells and investments in electric commercial vehicle development — making trade industry headlines.”