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07/04/2011
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Waitrose says it is seriously cutting carbon emissions since buying five Mercedes-Benz Sprinter NGT (natural gas technology) gas-powered vans.
 Ray Collington, fleet engineer for the John Lewis Partnership, explains that its new vans run on sustainable liquid bio-methane, made from landfill gas, which is converted into high-quality, clean fuel.
"This is a very exciting project," comments Collington, stating that the new Sprinter NGT vans are exceptionally quiet and emit negligible CO2 and little or no particulates.
His vehicles are all 3.5-tonne Sprinter 316 NGT panel vans with insulated bodies by Gray & Adams, as well as Hubbard refrigeration units.
In fact, the Sprinter NGT is a bifuel vehicle, powered by either petrol or gas, with the 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine delivering 156hp, irrespective of fuel source. As standard, it has a Euro 4 engine but Waitrose upgrade the power plant to meet the EEV (enhanced environmentally friendly vehicle) emissions standard, above Euro 5.
"We're keen to learn as much as we can from these new vehicles, because we firmly believe that gas has a viable future as an alternative fuel source," comments Collington.
"Bio-methane gives us a high-performance fuel produced using locally-sourced, sustainable materials – it is a genuine alternative to diesel for us in some applications," he adds.
The Waitrose vehicles refuel at a facility operated by Gasrec, Europe's first commercial producer of liquid Bio-methane. They were supplied by Reading dealer Rygor Commercials, and are emblazoned with the logo 'Using recycled energy – powered by Bio-methane'.
Chassis cab, dropsider and Traveliner minibus variants of the gas-powered Sprinter are also available at 3.5 tonnes gvw, as is a 5.0-tonne Sprinter 516 NGT chassis cab variant.
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Author
Brian Tinham
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