$4/gallon Urea Looks Pricey Compared to Diesel Fuel
TravelCenters of America announced June 12 that all 234 of its TravelCenters of America (TA) and Petro Stopping Centers ("Petro") branded locations in North America are now stocked with 2.5 gallon-jugs of urea (called “diesel exhaust fluid,” DEF).
The price: $9.99 per jug, or $4/gallon. That’s 60% more expensive than U.S. average retail diesel fuel, according to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration diesel fuel price survey.
Ironically, some diesel engine/truck makers were predicting last year that U.S. urea at retail would be 50% cheaper than the price of U.S. diesel fuel (see Diesel Fuel News 9/1/08). Supposedly, this would be an advantage for 2010 highway heavy-duty diesel trucks equipped with urea-selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for U.S. EPA 2010 limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx).
The theory: As long as urea could be seen as cheap, then truckers wouldn’t mind paying the 2-3% fuel pof adding urea because diesel fuel savings supposedly would overcome this extra cost.
But now it turns out that urea costs far more than diesel fuel, at the U.S.’s biggest truck-stop chain.
What’s more, a urea-SCR system on a 2010 truck will add $10,000 extra cost at first purchase, compared to a 2009 (or earlier) diesel truck without urea-SCR.
Besides the 2.5-gallon jugs at TA/Petro, urea (DEF) is now available through all 400 “RoadSquad” emergency roadside assistance vehicles at TA and Petro locations for trucks that run out of DEF while on the highway, TA said.
“TA and Petro are pleased to be the very first travel centers to offer these containers and to have completed a critical phase in fulfilling the travel center industry's most comprehensive and flexible DEF supply plan,” the company said.
Last month, TA launched what it called the U.S.’s “first retail DEF bulk dispensing operation at its facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This dispensing equipment was developed by TA in conjunction with Colonial Chemical Company,” TA said.
However, this is a shop-bay dispenser, not a retail island dispenser -- hence invisible to most customers.
The revelation about pricey urea might boost prospects for Navistar/International -- the only big North American heavy-duty diesel truck/engine maker offering EPA 2010 diesel trucks without urea-SCR.
-- Jack Peckham
