Volvo Trucks is launching a new, stronger gas-powered truck that can run on liquified biogas. The new truck can carry out demanding, long distance transport tasks, while reducing overall CO2 emissions.
Liquified biogas, often called bio-LNG, is a renewable fuel that can be produced from many types of organic waste, including food scraps. The fuel can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 100%.
Daniel Bergstrand, Product Manager for gas-powered trucks at Volvo Trucks said, “Biogas is a great complement to electric transports, helping hauliers with their sustainability ambitions and aims towards climate neutral transports.”
The gas-powered trucks, the Volvo FH and FM, are getting a new power level of 500 hp, joining the previous 420 and 460 hp engines. The gas engines also get major technical upgrades that make them up to 4% more fuel efficient, which together with a new 10% larger gas tank, contributes to a longer range.
Daniel Bergstrand continued, “Our efficient gas-powered trucks have a performance comparable to their diesel equivalents. Fuelling-up is almost as fast as a diesel truck and the growing network of more than 600 fuel stations for both bio-LNG and LNG in Europe makes them ideal for long-haul transports.”
No single solution can solve climate change
The strengthened gas-powered line up fits well with Volvo Trucks’ three-path strategic roadmap to reach zero emissions: battery electric trucks, fuel cell trucks and combustion engines that run on renewable fuels like biogas, HVO or even green hydrogen.
“Several technical solutions are needed because the availability of energy and fuel infrastructure differs greatly between countries and regions, and also because the requirements for each transport assignment can vary,” said Daniel Bergstrand.
Massive plans to replace fossil LNG with bio-LNG in Europe
European production of bio-LNG is expected to ramp up quickly to shift away from the use of fossil LNG. The EU Commission has put forward a plan called REPower EU, where the focus is on creating greatly increased domestic production capacity for different kinds of energy. The plan is to boost annual biogas production ten times by 2030 and the sector has already started a rapid growth phase. The potential for biogas is also generating interest outside Europe.
Photos: One of Europe’s growing network of over 600 fuel stations for both bio-LNG and LNG; Fuelling-up is almost as quick as a diesel truck.