Coca-Cola to roll out green fleet
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is set to roll out a fleet of renewable biogas-powered delivery trucks for its Enfield, North London depot as part of a drive to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel costs.
It concluded that the gas vehicle achieved a well-to-wheel (WTW) GHG emissions saving of about 50.3%, compared to the diesel Stralis vehicle when filled from a temporary filling station. However, Cenex has predicted this saving could rise to 60.7% if CCE installed a more efficient permanent filling station at its depot. The gas vehicle using biomethane was also found to reduce fuel costs by 12.8%.
A LPG fork lift truck converted to operate on biomethane was also trialled and found to achieve a WTW CO2 saving of 71%.
CCE logistics asset manager Darren O’Donnell, said: “Our primary reason for selecting compressed biomethane is that it has the lowest carbon intensity of all commercially available alternative fuels, allowing us to benefit from the best possible well-to-wheel saving.
“Gaining independent trial support and results verification by Cenex has helped give us the confidence needed to make step changes in emissions performance through switching vehicle technology and fuels.”
As a result, CCE has invested in a fleet of 14 gas powered Iveco Stralis vehicles and a gas station, which it anticipates being fully operational by June 2012. Cenex has predicted that the new gas fleet will consume approximately 168 tonnes of biomethane, generating a saving of more than 300 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Cenex head of technical support and consultancy Chris Walsh, said: “The success of this trial shows gas vehicles provide similar if not better, drive performance and reliability levels than incumbent diesel technologies, while significantly reducing CO2 emissions.”
Gasrec commercial development manager Doug Leaf, added: “We are already seeing a number of major UK based organisations as well as Coca-Cola benefitting from the use of biomethane and future adoption is now a certainty.”
