Based at Waitrose’s Leyland, Lancashire regional distribution centre, the vehicles have an operational range of 350 miles and are now serving stores throughout northern England, the north Midlands and north Wales.
Both are Scania P 340 LA4x2MNA trucks plated at 31-tonnes gtw and specified with Scania’s OC09 102, 9-litre, 340bhp Euro 6 gas engine, delivering 1,600Nm of torque.
“As an organisation intent on minimising its carbon footprint, we have a keen desire to operate on sustainable fuels,” states Simon Gray, John Lewis’s vehicle engineering manager, pointing to the up to 90% carbon savings achievable when operating on biogas,.
“While we already have considerable experience of dual-fuel vehicles, operating solely on gas takes our environmental performance to another level.”
Part of making Waitrose’s gas trucks viable was the installation of the new high-pressure grid-connected gas refuelling station, recently opened by CNG Fuels in Leyland, and now capable of refuelling up to 500 trucks a day.
The gas supplied is sustainable bio-methane, derived from food waste and tracked virtually through the grid using Green Gas Certificates.
The two Waitrose vehicles typically take around four minutes each to refuel at the end of each day’s work – meaning that the refuelling station also uses less electricity during the refuelling process than lower pressure stations.
“The success of gas-fuelled operation depends upon a reliable supply of gas and the Leyland installation now provides us with the local support we need,” confirms Gray.
“In terms of the trucks themselves, we have plenty of operating experience with diesel Scanias, and early indications are that the gas-powered trucks are performing well,” he continues.
“Moreover, they are quiet to drive and our drivers, who are partners in the business, are proud to drive vehicles with excellent environmental credentials.”
Gray says that John Lewis envisages introducing “many more gas vehicles” into Leyland i the future, the ultimate goal being “to displace as much diesel as possible with bio-methane”.