U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Clean Cities

National Clean Fleets Partner: Schwan's Home Service

Photo of a Schwan's delivery truck that runs on propane.

Schwan's Home Service, a direct-to-home food delivery business, operates the largest propane vehicle fleet in the United States. About 75% of the company's trucks run on this clean-burning alternative fuel. Company founder Marvin Schwan began using propane in his trucks in the early 1970s in response to the oil embargoes of that decade.

Fast Facts

  • Joined the National Clean Fleets Partnership: October 2011
  • Headquarters: Marshall, MN
  • Operations: Schwan's subsidiaries operate from about 500 locations throughout the United States, including 12 major food production facilities in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
  • Strategies and Technologies: Propane, fuel economy measures, idle reduction
Bar chart showing fuel use by year for Schwan's Home Service fleet has declined from about 32 million gallons in 2010 to about 23 million gallons in 2012 with propane at about 80% to 90% of total fuel use and diesel at about 10% to 20% of total fuel use.

Since 2010, Schwan's Home Service has conserved fuel with its delivery fleet by reducing engine idling, optimizing driving routes, and reducing vehicle loads.

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Oct. 14, 2009

Schwan's Home Service awarded $500,000 grant to convert engines to propane

MARSHALL, Minn. – Schwan's Home Service, Inc., a subsidiary of The Schwan Food Company, recently was awarded a $500,000 Department of Energy grant to convert food-delivery truck engines to run on propane. The grant money will cover some of the cost for purchasing the kits required to convert gasoline engines to propane.

The conversion kits will be used on newly acquired trucks based in Texas. The grant, which can be used between October 2009 and December 2012, is part of the Texas Clean Cities FY09 Petroleum Reduction Technologies Project for the transportation sector.

Schwan's Home Service, a business that delivers frozen foods to millions of customers throughout the United States, has a long history of using propane as a motor fuel in its fleet of trucks. Since the late 1970s, Schwan's Home Service trucks have logged more than 2 billion miles using propane as a motor fuel to deliver frozen food products right to the customer's door.

Schwan's Home Service operates more than 4,500 propane alternative fueled vehicles in 48 U.S. states. About 75% of the business unit's fleet runs on propane.