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Probe into gases
Page 6
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I The government has launched a consultation on future support for road fuel gases—including CNG and LNG—but haulers believe high conversion costs mean few would opt to use gas-powered trucks.
The consultation paper asks haulers and others for their views on several issues, including what are the remaining barriers to the wider use of gas fuels, what measures would be most effective in promoting their use and how government support can be better linked to improving the environment.
Norman Prophett, managing director of the Crewebased car transporter Caratrans, says that if the government wants to persuade more hauliers to switch to gas-powered vehicles it has to help manufacturers to make them more affordable. Caratrans operates 15 ERFs and 12 Scanias all of which have been converted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG).
Prophett adds: If you wanted to put a gas vehicle on the road, you would find there is nobody making them. Manufacturers don't think it is worth their while because there are no filling stations. And the gas people say they can't open more filling stations until there are more vehicles."
Comments on the consultation paper, which can be found on the Department for Transport's website (vimw.dft.gov. uk), need to be sent to gwendapugh@dift.gsi.gov.uk by 17 September.