Truck maker Volvo AB, based in Sweden, said it has launched its first longhaul truck in Europe powered by up to 75% liquefied natural gas or methane gas.
“By using liquefied gas in an efficient diesel engine, we make it possible to use gas-powered trucks in heavier and longer-distance transport operations,” Claes Nilsson, president of Volvo’s Europe division, said in a May 31 statement.
The engine technology is based on a conventional diesel engine equipped with gas injectors, a special Thermos-like fuel tank that keeps the gas liquefied and chilled to [minus-220 degrees Fahrenheit] and a specially modified catalytic converter,” Volvo said.
The company chose liquefied rather than compressed gas be-cause “more fuel can be stored in the tanks compared to if the fuel
is compressed. This gives the methane-diesel truck a far greater range than that of traditional gas-powered trucks that utilize spark-plug technology.”
The fuel tank holds enough gas for a truck weighing 40 tons to travel “up to 300 miles in normal driving,” the release said.
Volvo said that its natural gas technology is fuel-efficient.
“Compared with conventional gas-powered spark-plug engines, Volvo’s gas technology offers 30% to 40% higher efficiency, and this in turn cuts fuel consumption by 25%,” Volvo said.
Volvo said that because methane gas can be used, it would be even more carbon-friendly if biomass is used to make gas for the engine.
“This means that if a Volvo gas-powered truck is run on biogas, emissions of carbon dioxide would be able to be cut by up to 70% compared with a conventional diesel engine,” the company said.
Volvo said it will build 100 of the dual-fuel vehicles this year and plans to sell them eventually outside Europe.
