Buses, municipal vehicles and distribution trucks with CNG drive - A contribution to the reduction of emissions in urban areas

摘要

Legislation on fine dust emissions once again has focused public interest on the reduction of the exhaust gas emissions of commercial vehicles used in urban areas. On the one hand, laws and regulations have further reduced, and continue to reduce, the permissible exhaust emission levels for motor vehicles throughout Europe; on the other hand, new regulations aimed at CO{sub}2 and fine dust reduction result in further restrictions on motor vehicles and, in particular, commercial vehicles in urban operation. The CNG drive (Compressed Natural Gas) as an alternative to the diesel engine in the commercial vehicle is one of the possible answers to these regulations, both for buses and for trucks, as long as the use of these vehicles is restricted to city/suburban areas. Unlike lean-burn engines, the stoichiometric combustion principle selected by Iveco also permits the use of biogas as a fuel. Bearing in mind the worldwide efforts to reduce CO{sub}2 emissions, this is an important aspect. The emission figures for the Iveco CNG engine are well within the Euro-6 and EEV limits. However, the CNG drive is an interesting alternative not only with a view to exhaust gas emissions. The noise emissions also are better than the figures for a comparable vehicle with diesel engine. The vehicle buying costs right now are about 20% higher compared with a Euro-4 vehicle with diesel engine, but are going to be on a par with Euro-5 and Euro-6 vehicles with diesel engines. As early as in 1984, Iveco began developing CNG engines for the commercial vehicle sector, and Iveco vehicles featuring CNG drive have been in customer hand since 1991. From a handful of vehicles in the early years, this has gone to now 5.000 Iveco vehicles worldwide and an additional 2.000 engines in vehicles of other makes or in stationary applications. We see a growing interest in and acceptance of this drive concept in recent years. Because of this situation, Iveco, on the basis of the Tector and the Cursor-8 diesel engine, has developed new CNG engines for use in heavy-duty commercial vehicles which soon will be available in urban buses and in heavy-duty municipal and distribution vehicles. In terms of ergonomics, comfort and design, these vehicles do not differ from vehicles with diesel engines and are therefore a genuine alternative to diesel-engined vehicles for operation in cities. The steadily growing number of filling stations which also offer CNG make it possible today to refuel CNG vehicles every day without losing time traveling long distances for fuel. This and the lower price of CNG as compared with diesel fuel make the CNG drive an alternative to the diesel drive from an economic viewpoint too. Moreover, CNG does not rely on petroleum and is available as a raw material in many countries. Biogas is an alternative fuel for CNG engines and can be produced from renewable raw materials or waste in any country.