Volvo Trucks embarks on green fuel road transport

18 September 2009

Volvo Trucks is taking concrete steps towards carbon dioxide-neutral road transport, by conducting field tests on 12 trucks running on Bio-DME fuel.

Bio-DME benefits from combining low environmental imprint with high energy efficiency, the company said. In comparison with diesel fuel, Bio-DME generates 95 per cent lower carbon dioxide emissions. What is more, the combustion process produces very low emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides. Volvo Trucks is participating in the project by contributing 14 Volvo FH trucks that will be tested by selected customers at four locations in different parts of Sweden between 2010 and 2012.

‘From the holistic viewpoint, Bio-DME is one of the most promising second-generation biofuels. Bio-DME provides both high energy efficiency and low emissions of greenhouse gases. We value these two properties particularly highly as we analyse various possible alternative fuels,’ said Lars Mårtensson, environmental affairs director at Volvo Trucks.

Volvo Trucks’ president and CEO Staffan Jufors added, ‘The field test will give us valuable new insight into the potential of Bio-DME as a future vehicle fuel. The project still requires many tests, larger-scale fuel production and an extended infrastructure. And, perhaps most of all, clear guidelines from the authorities on how they view the fuel.’

In August 2007, Volvo Group unveiled seven demo trucks from Volvo Trucks each running on a different type of biofuel, as part of the company’s low-fuel initiative.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency

This story was published on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Europe, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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