Customers of all Type A small school buses built on Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana 4500 series cutaway van chassis with Vortec 6.0L engines will have the option to order LPG options beginning with the 2012 model year.

Following a news conference announcing the offering, a company spokesman said the single-source LPG system is manufactured to GM engineering standards and would be immediately available only on the Express and Savana 4500 series chassis with 49-gallon fuel capacity while the company looked into how the technology would work with the 3500 series.

Knapheide Manufacturing Company will install the fuel storage and delivery system near after the 4500 series cutaway vans leave GM’s Wentzville, Mo., plant. Clean Fuel USA continues to be a tier-two supplier for GM’s 49- and 75-gallon LPG fuel systems along with Bi-Phase Technologies. The cutaway vans will be covered by GM’s three-year, 36,000-mile new vehicle limited warranty and five-year, 100,000-mile limited power-train warranty and vehicle emissions warranty. The LPG system meets all EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) emission certification requirements.

Officials said that GM’s manufacturing process enables customers to spend less time converting vehicles to run on propane by using a “one-stop shop-approach” to deliver a complete LPG fuel system that can be upfitted to specific requirements. GM is the first commercial fleet manufacturer to provide a single-source LPG van option and the only OEM to offer four alternative fuel options, the other three being CNG, ethanol and biodiesel.

“LPG infrastructure has progressed rapidly, so it’s easier for our customers to refuel in convenient locations across the country,” commented Brian Small, general manager of GM Fleet and Commercial Operations, on the more than 2,600 LPG fueling stations nationwide. “When our customers order the LPG option, they’re getting a sensible fuel alternative, with the convenience of a one-stop ordering process.”

GM continues to also provide engine codes to Clean Fuel USA to equip LPG systems in the propane-powered NexBus Type A school bus models built by Collins Bus Corporation. Those buses began rolling off the manufacturing line last summer.