in the Ardennes. and he's impressed. "It pulls well, responds
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well, and is very flexible," he says. "What's more, the cab is as quiet as the interior of my Chrysler Voyager!" A CNGpowered ERF operated by BOC Distribution Services in Britain has recorded in-cab noise levels 5dB(A) lower than the equivalent diesel.
The ERF will stay in service for 10 years, by which time Leonard hopes there will be much more demand for used gas-powered trucks. The Belgian government levies no duty on CNG used as a road fuel.
But why should a Belgian turn to the UK for gas technology? Leonard reckons that continental manufacturers do not seem too interested in clean, green, and environmentally virtuous gas-powered vehicles. "Volvo and MAN say they are thinking about it. Scania says it is thinking about it, but not for Belgium," he says. "We've not exactly had a dynamic response."
Excavations
That can't be said of Iveco. In the UK British Gas Transco is running an LNG-fuelled Iveco Ford 6x2 EuroTech MTI80E22/G rigid grossing 23 tonnes and fitted with a Hiab 081 grab to collect spoil from excavations and deliver building materials in the Edinburgh area. Predicted service life is seven years.
Rated at 220hp. the 9.5-litre dedicated natural gas Iveco engine drives through an Allison World Series automatic gearbox fitted with an integral retarder and is coupled to a three-way exhaust catalyst The Eurotech's certified exhaust emissions are: Nox, 1.16 (7.0) g/kWh; CO, 0.11 (4.0) g/kWh; HC, 0.24 (1.1) g/kWh; and PM, 0.01 (0.15) g/kWILI (figures in brackets are Euro-2 limits). It was built to run on CNG and was converted to LNG by British Gas Research and Technology.
The main internal difference between an Iveco engine set up to run on CNG and one running on LNG lies with the pressure regulator says Ken Moore, product manager in Iveco Ford Truck's heavy vehicles business unit and an expert on alternative fuels. CNG is held in its cylinders at a pressure of 200 bar, and requires a three-stage regulator to bring it down to atmospheric. LNG is stored at 7 bar and only needs a single-stage regulator.
LNG's offers a longer range than CNG because it has twice the energy density "As a result you only need a tank that's twice the size of a diesel tank rather than one that's five times as big," says Moore. Like Electrabel, Transco does not see range as a major issue; what is important is the availability of LNG, especially north of the border.
"We've got liquefaction plants all over the country, and we use LNG as a back-up to our natural gas supplies to domestic and business customers, says Transco fleet engineer Gary Foster. "If there's a shortfall all we need to do is put it through a heat exchanger and push it down the pipeline." Some Scottish towns not connected to gas pipelines rely solely on LNG, which is transported by road tanker.
A heat exchanger is needed because the gas is stored in liquid form at -160°C. The trucks it fuels are fitted with insulated tanks—in effect big vacuum flasks—and anybody refuelling an LNG truck should wear goggles and gloves. "The safety devices installed at dispensing points mean that the chances of LNG getting in contact with your skin are very low, however," says Moore.
The Iveco carries 400 litres of LNG; Foster calculates that it would need ten 90-litre cylinders of CNG to achieve a similar range. "We've done 480km between refills, and we reckon that we're getting around 7.5-8mpg in diesel terms," he says. "At the moment the truck is struggling on gradients, probably because the gearbox is on an economy rather than a performance setting, and it's not changing down quickly enough." He sees no difficulty making the necessary mods.
BOC Distribution Services is also venturing down the LNG route, but for its operation range is a priority It's about to put 10 LNGdriven ERF 32-tonners into service on its Marks & Spencer contract following encouraging experiences with an ERF EC6 17-tonner powered by a CNG-fuelled Perkins Phaser 220TiSi, and an ERE 32-tonner equipped with an Eagle TxSi.
Filling station
"The new trucks will be on the road in the next month, and a filling station is being built for them at Hemel Hempstead," says BOCDS chief engineer, transport, Sam de Beaux. "CNG gives us a 480km range, and we're hoping LNG will give us a 640-720km range. The speed of till should be the same as that of diesel." He's also hoping that LNG quality will prove more consistent than CNG has been.
"In the early days with CNG we had too much oxygen, too much water, and too much nitrogen," he observes.
Drawbacks? An LNG ERF costs .£20,000 more than a diesel ERF, but this has been partially offset by a £100,000 grant from the Energy Savings Trust. De Beaux also anticipates a Vehicle Excise Duty reduction of £500 a truck because they're running on an environmentally friendly gaseous fuel.
He is not saying how much BOCDS will be paying British Gas for the LNG the trucks consume, but all operators of gas-powered trucks are affected by the lack of dispensing points. They have no option but to install dispensers at their own depots, and rely on reciprocal arrangements with other gas vehicle owners if their trucks run short of gas and are not dual-fuel.
The ERFs will remain in service for six years. Like Leonard, de Beaux is struck by how quiet gas-powered vehicles are: "You can't drive on noise" he says, "you have to drive on instruments." De Beaux predicts that more and more city authorities will restrict entry of diesel and petrol-powered vehicles to their precincts.
Duty levels
He believes the government should encourage truck owners to invest in CNG/LNG technology by significantly reducing duty on both fuels. "Belgium and the Republic of Ireland levy no duty, and the rate in the Netherlands is almost zero," he says. "But UK duty levels are the highest in Europe."
In fact the cost of the fuel throughout Europe is an issue, says Tim Weeks, automotive manager for UPS Europe. He says this is one reason why UPS runs only a handful of gas-powered vehicles on this side of the Atlantic. He points out that it is not unknown for a government to cut duty, only to have the gas provider increase its prices.
"In the US we are now operating 725 natural gas vehicles and this number is still growing," he says. "We hope to have 1,000 on the road by the end of this year, and we've just started to add 100 purpose-built CNG-powered vehicles to the fleet equipped with the Cummins 6b gaseous fuel engine."
However, in Europe the parcels giant runs exactly five CNG-powered commercials; a Ford Transit in London and five of its own P36 vans in Cologne. He would like to see governments and industry introduce a whole package of incentives to encourage transport companies to switch to gas.
"You could be talking for example about increased gross vehicle weight allowances for natural gas trucks, and exemption from tachograph regulations for some vehicles," Weeks suggests. "And businesses could play their part by awarding preferred-carrier status to users of low-emission vehicles, and giving their trucks priority at loading and unloading docks."
E by Steve Banner