Dutch transport company Gebr. Huybregts running on liquid biogas

NGVA Europe member Rolande LNG is one of the main partners in liquid biogas fleet projects in the Netherlands. Transport company Gebr.Huybregts uses 10 IVECO Stralis tractor units running on liquid biogas for in city goods distribution for Albert Heijn supermarkets in the Netherlands.

The liquid biogas is made from landfill gas and has a methane content of 98 % assuring a high energy density. Using this biogas makes it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% compared to diesel fuel. The expected increase of using this fuel in trucks makes the goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% in 2020 suddenly much more realistic.

The main advantages of using biogas as truck fuel are low emissions and low noise levels. Trucks running on liquid biogas have noise levels 5 times lower than comparable diesel trucks. This makes it possible to do in city distribution to supermarkets  early  in the morning or late in the evening  (PIEK certified, PIEK stands for a low noise standard for trucks and trailers ). The IVECO Stralis is offering an emission level already 3 times lower than future Euro VI requirements coming into force in 2014.

Gebr. Huybregts LBG truck coneverted by Iveco Schouten	Rolande 45' tank conatainer on road trailer

The IVECO Stralis is available with 270 and 330 horsepower   gas engines. Using liquid natural gas or liquid biogas enables a range of 1000 km which is fully acceptable for national distribution transport in the Netherlands.

Currently transport company Gebr. Huybregts has 10 IVECO Stralis trucks in service. The trucks are performing according to expectations and the drivers specially appreciate the low noise level from these trucks.

Currently Rolande LNG, the LNG specialist in the Netherlands ,is rolling out the necessary filling station infrastructure to enable the increase of the number of trucks running on liquid biogas .The support from both governmental and local authorities is essential ,in fact they control the speed of the roll out of the filling stations. As the IVECO Stralis is still not available ex. works in LNG execution the truck has to be converted from CNG operation to LNG operation. This is done by IVECO Schouten, one of the main IVECO dealers in the Netherlands, in close cooperation with Rolande LNG supported by IVECO Netherlands. For the customer the result is that trucks are offered with full factory warranty .

The result of this cooperation is that ,according to IVECO Netherlands, it is now possible to offer a competitive business proposition compared to diesel trucks. The fuel costs are lower which enables a good return of investment to compensate for the current higher investment costs. Both IVECO and Rolande LNG expect to have at least 100 trucks running on liquid biogas in operation before end of this year.

The Dutch Ministry of Transport has granted a subsidy of 3.000 €, per commercial vehicle (max 100.000 € per project per company) which will be purchased between the 1st of July 2011 and 31st of December 2011 and which is using higher blends of biofuel and biogas or “greengas” as combustible. (see Dutch article here). In total 2.600.000 € is available. The Dutch government hopes that this grant will allow the number of vehicles with biogas be expanded significantly in the Netherlands.