Sitting on the fence over gas trucks?

Reading the results of the government-funded Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, published in November by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, has reinforced everything I’ve always believed about our approach to gas.

But if you have been holding off on making the transition to this cleaner and lower cost fuel, then the results are well worth looking at… and I’ve provided a link to them at the bottom of this article.

After nine months of government-funded testing with two Volvo FM LNG 6x2 tractor units within a customer fleet, the results show the hugely positive impact we have had on reducing well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions.

You see, when Volvo’s engineers sat down to design our gas engines, they didn’t stick with convention and use spark ignition, as our competitors did. Instead, they came up with a driveline which uses direct injection and heated compression for ignition, with small amounts of diesel acting like a liquid spark plug to start the gas combustion process. And this approach has really paid off.

Of four different types of gas vehicle taking part in the government’s trials, only the Volvo could return CO2 equivalent savings across all journey types, regardless of whether fuelled with fossil LNG (generating savings of 8% to 14%), or Bio-LNG (saving 65% to 71%).

Crucially, the government trials also found our technology overcame the energy efficiency losses associated with spark ignition dedicated gas vehicles, across all test cycles. The three competitor trucks – two running on CNG, and one on LNG – all saw increases in energy usage, of anything between 1% and 50%, depending on the application.

2021: the year of the gas truck

The market for gas trucks is growing, and it’s growing fast. During the last two months my colleagues have delivered more than 200 new Volvo FH LNG 6x2 and 4x2 tractor units into service here in the UK. In one week alone, we put 109 new gas trucks on the road!

Several people have commented on social media, questioning our approach in still using diesel within our gas engines. And I’d say look at the government test figures…

Our engines run predominately on gas; they substitute more than 95% of the fuel used in a conventional diesel engine, yet we still get all the advantages of diesel, including the same high power, engine braking and torque which drivers love. Plus, our technology cuts energy use and delivers CO2 equivalent savings across the board, in all cycles tested.

No other manufacturer in this market can make that claim, and the volume of gas trucks we’re now delivering to fleets supports the route we’ve taken.

As James Westcott, Chief Commercial Officer of Gasrec, was recently quoted as saying in Trucking magazine: “The view that gas was just for PLCs investing in a bit of greenwash is well and truly out of the window. These companies are now making significant investments in gas vehicles because they know they work. They’ve done the hard yards, they’ve run the trials, they’ve got the fleet deployment and infrastructure around them. And this means smaller operators can start to benefit from that and join them too.”

I completely echo those comments. We’re seeing huge interest in our gas product range, from operators of all sizes. Even ex-demonstrators have been selling fast within our Volvo Used Trucks operation – and maintaining a strong residual value too.

From March 2021 we will be introducing the new generation Volvo FH LNG and Volvo FM LNG models, and substantial investment is being made in developing a nationwide network of large open-access biomethane refuelling stations.

If that’s not enough to tempt you, then the government trial data also highlights three additional reasons to support the move to gas – things we already knew, but which have now been confirmed independently:

1.   Gas vehicle reliability is similar to diesel (our service contract data shows little difference, if any, between diesel and gas product uptime)

2.   Driver feedback over the move to gas is positive (drivers tell us they love the fact gas trucks are 50% quieter)

3.   And crucially, the additional capital and maintenance costs for gas trucks vs diesel can be recovered within two years for an operation covering 160,000 km/year, thanks to the significantly lower cost of fuel (after that, every kilometre is saving you money, and boosting profit).

If you’ve got any questions about running on LNG or Bio-LNG, please reply in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to answer.

To download the LowCVP’s full report, please click

https://www.lowcvp.org.uk/assets/reports/LowCVP-LEFT_Dissemination_Report-2020.pdf

#LNG #BioLNG #biomethane #alternativefuels #VolvoTrucks #VolvoFH #VolvoFM #buildbackgreener #sustainability #roadtozero #logistics #roadtransport