Industry Comment Written by Martin Flach, Alternative Fuels Director
HaveWORD 800 you been EDITwondering HEADLINE about alternative HERE fuels for AS TIGHT your commercial AS POSS fleet? IVECO’s Martinicidisquid Flach answers questions that commercial Udae nonsend quamsome elisimincim facepro et et, sed fleet operators have about alternative fuels and reducing emissions quodi blaborum ut molorem aut ationse nos eumquetheir laboribus et quoditiat dolo qui de volecab orerisqui nitibusdae nullacianti Q1. keen to my consequat a contribution towards the investment costs rest,I’m sitiatis ut improve idem quodi facimagnime pernatemquae carbon footprint and am for the provider, be it a large station or a nimus earibus, temtrucks. ipsaest moluptatium es net et costs obviously thinking about gas small station. Operating However, should I be concerned xoxoxoxothe infrastructure? about Whilst the gas infrastructure is clearly nowhere nearINFORMATION the level of diesel and petrol, FURTHER there are probably more gas stations than xxx people realise with a total in the region many of 40 throughout the UK. The gas station suppliers are working on plans that could see this number doubling within the next two years and all of them are very keen to look at any new opportunities. In many instances, upon purchase of a fleet of gas trucks, such as over ten heavy trucks, the infrastructure will be paid for by the gas supplier if an appropriate gas supply contract is signed. For individual vehicles, home fill units are available for a relatively low investment, for example, approximately £6K-£10K. Q2. If I am not near a gas main, how can I run a CNG vehicle? CNG stations in areas where there is no gas can be provided by two means. Firstly, the simple way, mother and daughter, so the daughter station consists of a series of gas cylinders mounted on a semi-trailer or a skid, which can be transported from the site to a major gas (mother) station and refilled as and when required. This technique is suitable for smaller numbers of vehicles. Secondly, there is a liquid to compressed gas station, where the gas is brought to site in LNG and evaporated and compressed on site. This is a more appropriate option for larger fleets. Both options offer operators an easy means of making the move to gas. Q3. This sounds like it is going to cost me more, can you explain? Gas is normally about a third less than diesel with the fuel duty differential guaranteed until 2024. The price of the gas will include
Martin Flach
vary between operators but typically we see payback on additional capital cost within two to three years, making gas vehicles good for the bottom line and good for the environment. Higher mileage vehicles that utilise more gas can be as low as 12 months to achieve payback.
Q4. Where do electric vehicles fit into the picture? Good question. Clearly electric vehicles have their place in transport operations, nothing can beat an electric vehicle for zero tailpipe emissions in the urban environment. We should recall though that electric vehicles are only as green as the electrical generation that powers them and the UK at present is still carbon heavy in the grid mix.We have seen the successful development of electric vehicles in the car and small van market over the last few years. IVECO have had the Daily Electric available as an OEM product for several years now, and several competitors have announced product developments that we will see shortly ranging from 3.5 to 40 tonnes. The challenges today are threefold, namely, weight of batteries, range of vehicle, and cost of vehicle. Step changes are needed to bring electric vehicles out of just niche operations into the main stream. Government can subsidise the cost through the plugged in electric vehicle grants, but that won’t address range and payload issues. This means that at the moment electric vehicles are really only suitable for urban short distance operations. Q5. Alternative technology vehicles tend to be heavier, is there anything being done to address this? Interestingly, the Department for Transport consultation for a derogation to enable B (car) licence holders to drive
Alternative fuels director, IVECO
up to 4.5 tonnes has just closed and we are optimistic that this will be adopted in the near future. This will enable car drivers to drive alternative fuelled vehicles without the payload penalty of the technology. This will open up alternative fuels in the critical 3.5 tonnes dot com operations enabling them to improve their emissions and environmental footprint. At the top end, 18-26 tonnes, the government have recently passed legislation to enable vehicles to be plated up to 19 and 27 tonnes providing parity of payload with the equivalent diesel vehicle. Q6.What are IVECO’s future plans when it comes to alternativel fuels? We are proud of our credentials and our ability to offer alternative technology products through most of the range, and we are looking to extend it into other segments not currently covered in due course, so watch this space for further developments. Our corporate message is that we are “your partners for sustainable transport” and this is what we firmly believe. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.iveco.co.uk
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