Milton Keynes, UK, 2014-10-2— /EPR Retail News/ — Argos is set to pave the way in low-carbon deliveries, being the first retailer to bring in new ultra-low emission vehicles.
The five new compressed natural gas-fuelled trucks, supplied by Scania, will be on the road by the end of the year helping to deliver stock to Argos stores nationwide.
Designed to run solely on gas (compressed or liquified), the trucks provide carbon dioxide reductions of up to 70 percent when run on pure biogas, and are extremely quiet.
Argos Fleet Engineer, David Landy, said: “With such low emissions of carbon dioxide, the potential environmental benefits of running purely on gas exceed those of dual-fuel operation. It is an exciting prospect to be the first to put dedicated gas-powered trucks into service. We now look forward to taking delivery of them and evaluating their performance over the long term.”
The gas-powered trucks have been fully developed in-house by Scania and technician training is now underway to ensure that full nationwide service cover will be available when the first vehicles enter service.
“We are delighted that Argos is to pioneer the use of dedicated gas trucks in the UK,” comments Martin Hay, UK Truck Sales Director for Scania (Great Britain) Limited. “Today, there are approaching 4,000 gas-powered Scania vehicles in service around the world and this, together with an ever-developing fuel-supply infrastructure, represents a major step forward in terms of combating emissions of greenhouse gas.”
The vehicles are a further boost to Argos’ carbon reduction programme, which has recently seen the introduction of 19 multi-deck trailers with capacity that could reduce deliveries by one in every six trips, offering a possible CO2 emission saving of 16.7%.
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Notes to Editors:
The vehicles are called Scania P 340 LA4x2MNA tractor units, and are to be mainly used for store deliveries and will be based at Argos’s Magna Park, Lutterworth distribution centre. The nearby GasRec station at Crick will be used for refuelling. Each truck will be fitted with a total of eight 103-litre compressed natural gas tanks, which will give a maximum range of up to 500 kilometres, depending on weight and application.
Plated at 40-tonnes gross train weight, each vehicle will be equipped with Scania’s OC09 102, nine-litre, Euro 6 engine. Delivering 340hp (250kW) at 1,900 rpm and 1,600Nm of torque between 1,100 and 1,400 rpm, this engine offers a high thermal efficiency of 40 percent. In addition to meeting the Euro 6 exhaust emissions standard, when operated on pure biogas carbon dioxide savings of up to 70 percent can be achieved.
For more information, please contact the Scania press office by calling Chris Love on 01908 329270/ 07836 666878/ chris.love@scania.com or Phil Sampson on 01908 329384 / 07885 152132/ phil.sampson@scania.com.
Alternatively, you can contact the Argos Press Office on 0845 120 4365 or email: media.relations@argos.co.uk. Follow us on Twitter at @argos_PR.
About Argos
Argos is a leading UK digital retailer, offering around 43,000 products through www.argos.co.uk, its growing mobile channels, stores and over the telephone.
Argos continues to be the UK’s largest high street retailer online with 738 million website and app visits in the 12 months to February 2014. Argos serves around 123 million customers a year through its network of 734 stores.
In the financial year to February 2014, Argos sales were £4.1 billion and it employed some 29,000 people across the business.
Argos is part of Home Retail Group, the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer.
About Scania
Scania is a major supplier to UK industry of trucks, buses, coaches and engines for industrial and marine applications. Additionally, the company provides a wide range of complementary and ancillary services in support of its products and customers through its 90-strong network of service centres. In 2013, Scania’s share of the UK heavy truck market was 18.1% and its combined bus and coach market share amounted to 8.3%.
Based in Sweden and with production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is a global organisation which markets its products in around 100 countries worldwide.
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