Filed under: Natural Gas
Iveco Daily now comes in CNG flavor
Although Iveco has been selling CNG (compressed natural gas) buses for a few years (these buses are used in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Paris or Milano), the Italian marque has created the first series of models that guarantee widespread use for private users. Some of these CNG Ivecos are currently being used as garbage trucks in the city of Barcelona.
CNG is a fuel that is rapidly expanding in Europe. Germany has a respectable network of fuelling stations, and it's actually a very competitive fuel for delivery and commuting. The environmental benefits are remarkable: although they don't lower CO2 emissions by a large percentage, CNG does do away with the rest of nasty pollutants other fuels have, such as NOx and particullates.
The Iveco Daily CNG is powered by a CNG gas engine made from the standard 3.0 diesel (gasoline trucks are almost non-existent in Europe) good for 136 HP that suits both the Euro IV and V regulations for trucks. It carries the gas in an array of 5 gas tanks (up to 220 liters) with the possibility to add a 6th one (which increases capacity to 250), however, the range of the vehicles is not announced (my guess is about 200-300 miles, if it's compared to CNG cars). Total weight ranges from 3.5 to 6.5 tons (metric). This division is made because of European driving license, which allow trucks to be driven with a standard car license as long as the maximum gross weight of the vehicle does not exceed 3.5 metric tons.
As the rest of the Daily range, the truck is offered with both single or double rear-wheel configurations, with single or double cabin, with just the chassis or as a panel van.
Iveco has also been speculating about an upcoming hybrid model, but this information is not yet available.
Gallery: Iveco Daily with CNG option
[Source: Iveco]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 11:13PM (9/02/2007)
CNG is a viable transportation fuel option using currently available technology.
If the USA built more nukes and renewable energy sources, we could power our cars and heat our homes with relatively clean CNG for many decades rather than relying on dirtier, more politically expensive OPEC oil.
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Rex 12:08AM (9/03/2007)
You forgot Pakistan! Asia is the fastest Cng producing and using region! and the buses are being used in the capital, atleast i saw that in the news..not sure if they are from iveco
Bute a side note, cng doesnt have enough er... thrust?(i mean, it is very difficult to near impossible to go uphill on CNG, quite often i have to switch to petrol, and mine is a 1300cc car), and forget about using it on your Suvs, all the tanks will eat up ur boot, and isn't feasible either...
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Mattias 3:09AM (9/03/2007)
Here in Saxony the CNG Daily's are in service for DHL since at least nine months. Were they cars of the test fleet or is this old news?
BTW: For inner cities CNG hybrids would give a great option that targets the efficiency of gasoline engines, offers less particulate and NOx emissions and works around the lower torque/hp of CNG engines. On routes with longer distances between the stops classic diesel engines or mild diesel hybrids might give the best solution.
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Mirko 6:20AM (9/03/2007)
Turbocharging or supercharging can work around the torque problem and increase efficiency of a CNG fueled engine. Volkswagen and Opel have announced turbocharged CNG cars (Passat 1.4 TSI CNG, Zafira 1.6 TNG...)
Mercedes has a supercharged CNG E-class, which is popular as a taxi...
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