A lorry leaves John O’Groats this morning for Land’s End, the first long-haul vehicle to make the 874 mile journey over the length of Britain, on one tank of liquefied natural gas.
Iveco (the Turin-based Industrial Vehicles Corporation) built the Stralis NP (Natural Power) vehicle, and says its trip will be an important milestone for alternative fuels in the UK as natural gas stands today as the only serious alternative fuel with prospects for widespread use.
It is promoting the Stralis as "the most sustainable international transport truck ever", as the first gas-powered vehicle designed for long-distance transport delivering the same power and torque output as its diesel equivalent.
"It is the only truck that can run on Compressed or Liquid Natural Gas, or a blend of the two, to deliver the power rating, comfort, transmission technology and fuel autonomy to suit long-distance haulage missions."
Pierre Lahutte, Iveco Brand President, said: “Iveco was the first manufacturer in the world of commercial transport to understand, in 1991, the potential of natural gas. We have introduced in the market natural gas versions of trucks, vans and buses. As a result, today we have a running park of more than 15,000 gas vehicles in Europe. The New Stralis NP builds on Iveco’s extensive expertise to take a step into the future: it is the first true long-haul gas truck in the market that offers an alternative to diesel vehicles and the most sustainable long-distance transport truck ever”.
He said the improvements introduced in the New Stralis NP would contribute to a 3 per cent reduction in total cost of ownership compared to the previous model, which already had fuel costs up to 40 per cent less than its diesel equivalent.
It s expected to make it to Land's End in Cornwall by tomorrow afternoon.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel