Calor is investing £3.5 million in infrastructure to improve the availability of liquefied natural gas for the commercial vehicle market.
The company currently operates seven refuelling sites in total across the country, covering Lockerbie, Castleford in West Yorkshire, Lymm in Warrington, Grantham, Donnington, Wolverhampton and Bristol, with plans for developing more LNG refuelling stations already in the pipeline.
LNG is currently supplied in the UK from the Isle of Grain import terminal. Calor is also involved in the development of new LNG terminals across the UK, as a key partner of the CaledoniaLNG project.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding, Calor and other partners have agreed to increase the supply and availability of LNG in the North of England, Scotland and North Sea regions.
Mark Gilks, transport sector specialist at Calor, said: “With approximately 120,000 HGVs on UK roads, this market is responsible for around 27 per cent of roadside NOx and has a key role to play in reducing air pollution. This is supported by research from Public Health England, the Royal College of Physicians and Policy Exchange, with a report from the latter citing the wider use of gas-based fuels as one of the few viable options available to rapidly improve air quality.
“Adopting LNG would make a dramatic difference, reducing NOx by up to 70 per cent and particulate matter by 90 per cent when compared with the cleanest Euro 6 diesel engines. Calculations have shown that if 48,000 HGVs were to be fuelled by LNG instead of diesel, this could cut carbon emissions by more than a million tonnes.
