All eyes were on Iveco’s natural gas powered Daily light commercial vehicle at the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership’s exhibition in London earlier this week, as Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, stopped to talk to Iveco and Gasrec about the benefits of Liquid Biomethane (LBM).

Hosted in Potters Field Park, London, on the southern side of the River Thames situated between City Hall and Tower Bridge, Iveco and Gasrec jointly displayed a special 6.5 tonne Daily to highlight the partnership between the two organisations, which last month (May 2009) saw Gasrec named as Iveco’s preferred supplier of LBM.

Taking pride of place at the event was the same Daily 65C14G cage tipper which has just completed a highly successful six month trial on recycling and street cleansing operations for Camden Council, during which time it recorded a 62 per cent saving in CO2 over diesel engined equivalents, whilst highlighting the suitability of LBM as a high quality fuel.

Boris Johnson dedicated part of his tour of the show to viewing the Daily and speaking directly with David Burke, Commercial Development Director at Iveco UK and Doug Leaf, Development Manager at Gasrec. Commenting after the exhibition, Burke said: “The Mayor of London was extremely positive about the potential use of LBM. It's a technology that he wasn't fully aware of but was very keen to find out more. Our recent trial has highlighted that running a natural gas powered Daily on LBM offers fleet operators a serious and renewable alternative for applications where vehicles operate on a regular back-to-base cycle.  As a direct result we are currently in discussions with several key operators about the potential of running gas powered Dailys on LBM, with right-hand drive production being geared-up at our plant in Suzarra to support the UK market,” he explained.

LBM is a commercially competitive and environmentally sound fuel that can be directly substituted for natural gas and is the most sustainable alternative fuel in terms of impact on resource depletion in relation to alternatives such as biodiesel and ethanol. Furthermore, LBM has the lowest carbon intensity of all commercially available alternative fuels – with one tonne of LBM equivalent to 1,200 litres of diesel, which is sufficient to fuel a 44 tonne heavy goods vehicle for an entire week.

The complete range of gas powered Daily’s extends to 28 different models available in the UK, plated between 3.5 and 6.5 tonnes, including three panel vans, five chassis cabs and five chassis crew-cabs, available in a variety of different wheelbase lengths.  All models are powered by the same 3 litre engine which is capable of producing up to 136 hp between 2,730 and 3,500 rev/min, and up to 350 Nm of torque between 1,500 and 2,730 rev/min.