Methane/diesel trucks

I was reading my copy of Owner Driver mag and came across an article on trucks testing liquid methane and diesel.

Volvo are to be the first manufacturer of the engines and here is what a test has shown with actual road figures of a 460hp Volvo towing a fridgepan.

Here is a cut and paste from Volvo themselves.

A smarter, more effective engine
By using a diesel engine instead of the spark-ignited Otto engine traditionally used in gas trucks, we have increased the energy efficiency by 30–40%. Compared with the Otto engine, fuel consumption is reduced by circa 25%.
The Volvo methane-diesel principle enables heavy-duty diesel engines to operate substantially on natural gas or biogas. On a regional or long-haul route, this means up to 75% gas and 25% diesel. With the basic diesel engine fully intact, retaining its original energy efficiency, the truck is able to run entirely on diesel at
any time.
Injection of gas into the cylinder by multipoint gas injection system installed in the injector plate.

Less fuel, less emissions
In addition to the propably lower fuel costs, the exchange from diesel to methane gas also means an obvious reduction of the CO2 emissions compared with regular diesel engines – up to 70% with biogas.

Over a conventional gas engine (as run in our buses). The new configuration offers 30 to 40% higher efficiency and 25% better fuel consumption.

Biggest problem with this will be fuel distribution points. They expect to sell 100 units this year in Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands rising to 400 units next year.

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All we have to do is get cow bum collectors fitted to our herds.

RA.