Oklahoma and other 21 states receive bids for natural gas vehicles

More than 100 Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and Honda dealers in 28 states submitted bids for natural gas vehicles.

Officials said carmakers have cut the difference cost between standard cars, trucks and vans and their natural gas counterparts by about half. Bids offered savings of up to $5,800, or 16 percent, on three-quarter ton pickups.

“It's been even better than what we thought it would be,” Gov. Mary Fallin said.

Fallin and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who led the multistate initiative, unveiled the preliminary bids Thursday at the 2012 Governor's Energy Conference in Oklahoma City.

Full bid details will be released Friday morning to all states involved in the request for proposals issued in July.

Thirteen other governors have signed on to the bipartisan effort launched last year by Fallin, a Republican, and Hickenlooper, a Democrat. Seven more states joined the bid request because they are interested in buying CNG vehicles for their fleets.

“The initiative has been enormously successful,” Fallin said. “We asked auto manufacturers to develop products that were more affordable and functional. With the combined purchasing power of our 22 states, we successfully provided the incentive to do so.