The New Stralis NP is the first natural gas vehicle designed for long-haul missions. It features a spacious Hi-Way cab, the 400bhp Iveco Cursor 9 engine, a EuroTronic gearbox and dual LNG tanks, each with a 540-litre capacity, for a range of up to 1,500km.
The clean fuel used to power these vehicles will mean that they can freely access urban areas where increasingly stringent noise and pollution restrictions are being introduced.
The order was placed after the operator tested the Stralis Hi-Road AT440S33T/P C-LNG model, which is equipped with tanks for both liquid and gaseous natural gas. The vehicle underwent a series of extended trials across different routes of increasing length and difficulty in both northern and central Italy.
The decision was also based on expected short-term developments in the Italian LNG fuel distribution network – there are currently six LNG stations in Italy, but new LNG sites are planned for later this year, bringing the total number to 10.