Argos cashes in on ultra low emissions with gas trucks30 September 2014

Argos will be the first retailer to employ ultra low emission trucks when it takes delivery of five Scania vehicles fuelled by CNG (compressed natural gas) at the end of this year as part of the government's two-year Low Carbon Truck Trial.

The Scania P 340 LA4x2MNA dedicated gas powered tractor units will be based at the retailer's Magna Park, Lutterworth distribution centre, and will refuel at the nearby Gasrec CNG station at Crick.

Each truck will be fitted with eight 103-litre CNG tanks, giving a maximum range of 500km.

Plated at 40-tonnes gtw, each vehicle will be equipped with Scania's OC09 102, 9-litre Euro 6 engine.

Delivering 340bhp at 1,900 rpm and 1,600Nm of torque between 1,100 and 1,400 rpm, the engine also offers a high thermal efficiency of 40%.

The new trucks have been developed by Scania, which is training its technicians to ensure that nationwide service cover will be available when the first gas vehicles enter service.

Designed to run solely on gas (compressed or liquefied), these trucks boast carbon dioxide reductions of up to 70% when run on pure biogas, and are very quiet.

"With such low emissions of carbon dioxide, the potential environmental benefits of running purely on gas exceed those of dual-fuel operation," insists David Landy, Argos fleet engineer.

"It is an exciting prospect to be the first to put dedicated gas-powered trucks into service. We now look forward to taking delivery of them and evaluating their performance over the long term."

To date, Argos's carbon reduction programme has included introducing 19 multi-deck trailers with capacity to reduce deliveries by one in every six trips – offering a possible CO2 emission saving of 16.7%.

Author
Laura Cork

Related Companies
Scania (Great Britain) Ltd

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