Volvo's New LNG-Fuelled Trucks Arrive in UK
Sweden-based Volvo Trucks has begun shipping its new gas-powered truck to the UK; it chose Calor’s LNG filling station at Donington Park just off the M1 motorway in the East Midlands for its first UK tankstop.
LNG offers significantly less CO2 emissions than conventional fuels such as diesel, said Dutch SHV-owned Calor. It also cuts dangerous particulates such as NOx and SOx.
Volvo Group Trucks' head of product demonstration for the UK and Ireland, Martin Tomlinson, said: "Development of our new FM LNG truck is the result of our commitment to transportation that is sustainable in the long term, through energy-efficient, competitive and future-proof solutions with a low climate and environmental impact. Ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support the uptake of LNG is absolutely critical, which is why Calor’s investment in its LNG refuelling network across the UK is so important."
Volvo launched its new FM LNG truck in autumn 2017, which won first prize at Italy’s Sustainable Truck of the Year 2018 awards in Rimini in November 2017 organised by trucking magazine Vado e Torno and the Politechnico di Milano university.
Italian manufacturer Iveco plus Sweden's Scania and Germany's Mercedes already offer trucks fuelled by LNG, while BMW and Japan's Isuzu are developing models.
Calor's transport specialist Mark Gilks remarked: "With leading truck manufacturers predicting that natural gas-powered vehicles could account for 20% of heavy goods vehicles sold by the early 2020s, the future opportunities for LNG are really exciting. It was great to have Volvo’s new FM LNG truck fuel for the very first time at our LNG station in Donington.”
Calor's publicly-accessible LNG refuelling network is the largest in the UK, comprising stations at Donington, Lockerbie in Scotland, Castleford in West Yorkshire, Lymm in Warrington, plus Grantham, Wolverhampton and Bristol. Plans to expand the network are already underway.
Calor LNG filling pump at Donnington (Photo credit for this and banner photo: Calor)