Scania diversifies with gas and electricity

Scania is to supply 15 vehicles for three German e-highway in trials that are expected to start next year. The decision follows a tender process by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

The trials will initially commence in Hessen along the A5 Autobahn, where a five-kilometre e-highway infrastructure with electric power supplied from overhead lines in both directions has been constructed.

There will also be an e-highway section of the A1 Autobahn to the Port of Lübeck, with additional stationary charging capacity planned at the port. This highway section is expected to open during the European summer in 2019. Finally, the third e-highway is expected be established in Baden-Württemberg along a section of the B462 in early 2020.

The 15 trucks will be equipped with pantograph power collectors, developed by Siemens, mounted on a frame behind the cab for charging while in motion. The trucks will be operated by haulage companies in actual transport operations. Delivery of the first hybrid R 450 truck by Scania for Hessen is scheduled for May 2019.

In addition to delivering trucks, Scania will manage vehicle maintenance and data collection from the trials.

Meanwhile, the Swedish truck maker has also joined a consortium called BioLNG EuroNet that is committed to the further expansion of LNG (liquefied natural gas) as a road transport fuel across Europe with new infrastructure that should ensure the long-term success and mass scale adoption.

The consortium, comprising Shell, Disa, Scania, Osomo and Iveco will each deliver separate activities that will see 2000 more LNG trucks on the road, 39 LNG fuelling stations and the construction of a BioLNG production plant in the Netherlands.

The LNG Retail stations will form part of a pan-European network and be built in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. The stations will be located approximately every 400km along core road network corridors from Spain to Eastern Poland.

“This program covers filling stations, biofuel production and subsidies which are all necessary for progressive customers to invest in the trucks, despite the extra initial cost,” said Jonas Nordh, Director Sustainable Transport Solutions, Scania. “Whilst LNG which reduces CO2 emissions by about 20 per cent, is more broadly available today, biogas, which reduces CO2 emissions by over 90 per cent, can increasingly be blended in with the natural gas as production of biogas is ramped up.”

BioLNG EuroNet is looking to promote the rollout of LNG as a road transport fuel even further across Europe in the future.