Hardstaff targets new Actros
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NOTTINGHAMSHIRE-BASED dual fuel (natural gas/diesel) conversion specialist Hardstaff has started work to tailor its system for the 12.8-litre engine in the new Mercedes-Benz Actros.
Speaking at last week’s Commercial Motor Live event at Millbrook, vehicle application manager Steve Storrar said Hardstaff had converted about 200 trucks, mostly Mercedes Axor and Actros tractor units, to run on a mixture of gas and diesel at its Nottinghamshire workshops. A further 70 or so Volvo FL and FLE middleweights had been converted at the Swedish workshop it opened last year near the Volvo truck plant in Gothenburg.
Now Hardstaff is turning its attention to the 12.8-litre Mercedes OM471 engine offered in both Euro-5 and -6 versions in the new Actros and the heaviest versions of the Antos middleweights. Storrar has been to Mercedes’ HQ in Stuttgart to discuss adaptation of Hardstaff’s OIGI (oil-ignited gas injection) dual-fuel system and confirmed that the company already has an OM471 engine in its development workshop in Kingston on Soar, Nottinghamshire.
Hardstaff claims a typical gas-for-diesel substitution rate of at least 70%, leading to a 14%-18% reduction in CO2 emissions and double that if using bio-methane instead of conventional gas.