Cenex announces trial of natural gas-fuelled lorries

Cenex – the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for low carbon technologies – has announced its involvement in the UK’s largest trial of biomethane-fuelled lorries. Led by Air Liquide – world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health – and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics Project, the ‘Dedicated to Gas’ trial will see large fleet operators including Kuehne + Nagel, Wincanton, ASDA, Brit European, Howard Tenens and Great Bear, trial the effectiveness of 81 dedicated gas-powered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

The five lorries being trialled range from 12 to 44 tonnes, and are all new to the UK market. The trial will road test the HGVs across 10 different vehicle configurations, creating a wealth of valuable data on vehicle performance, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost. Trial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 8 per cent, and those run on biomethane can expect to see a 70 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, compared to a similarly sized diesel HGV.

The trial will also test the effectiveness of a new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. The liquid nitrogen cooling system promises to reduce the high energy demands of refrigeration units, further reducing HGVs CO2 and air quality emissions.

“The project aims to demonstrate lower-emissions technology innovation into the UK’s logistics industry and HGV fleets, which account for 17 per cent of all UK road transport emissions. Working in partnership with Air Liquide, the project lead, Cenex will manage all data analysis and project dissemination, update a dedicated gas vehicle hub website, and organize informational workshops for participating fleet operators and interested members of the industry.”

Steve Carroll, head of transport at Cenex, said: “Cenex have a long history of supporting natural gas and biomethane use in the transport sector, and we are excited to be part of such an innovative trial demonstrating and assessing the performance of the latest advancements.”

“As a world leader in sustainable, reliable, and safe gas power, Air Liquide is hopeful that this trial can bring much needed new fuel sources to the UK’s HGV fleets,” said Daniel Lambert, commercial director at Air Liquide Advanced Business & Technologies UK. “OEMs are working hard to bring promising zero emissions technologies to the new lorries they design, but without real life road testing by big fleet customers, these technologies will not be able to impact CO2 emissions in a big way. We look forward to leading this innovative trial, and sharing the results with other HGV fleet operators across Europe and the globe.”

John Rogerson, fleet operations manager, ASDA, concluded: “As a company committed to sustainable, low emissions transportation, ASDA is proud to be part of the select group of operators trialling new low emissions HGVs in the UK for the first time. We are excited to work with Cenex, Air Liquide and our other project partners to hopefully demonstrate the impact low-emissions HGV technology can have on the entire industry, while infusing the latest technology into our fleet and reducing our overall carbon footprint.”