Hermes and John Lewis are set to be some of the first users of new compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations in the north of England.
The sites, run by natural gas operator CNG Fuels and Ingenious, will be able to provide 1000 heavy goods vehicles with biomethane per day.
The Warrington site is located at Omega South on the M62 and can refuel up to 800 HGVs per day. The Northampton site is situated at the Red Lion Truckstop near the M1 and can refuel over 350 HGVs per day.
Natural gas trucks produce lower emissions than standard diesel ones. Biomethane is a form of natural gas made from decomposing organic matter, which reduces emissions still further. CNG Fuels plans to move to a form of fuel next year which produces net zero emissions.
John Lewis plans on introducing over 500 new vehicles using biomethane by 2028, while Hermes plans to replace its fleet of 200 diesel vehicles. Home Bargains, another customer, began operating its first 10 CNG vehicles in December 2019 and plans to add more in the future.
Mervyn McIntyre, head of network fleet and vehicle compliance at Hermes Parcelnet says: “We’re proud our of move towards a more sustainable future as the first parcel carrier to invest in bio fuels for our first-mile fleet, this will ultimately benefit people across the UK as we all look to reduce our carbon footprint.
“We’re delighted in the choice of Warrington as a location for a refuelling station, which will improve the efficiency of our network and allow us to run additional routes using bio methane fuelled vehicles.”
Alan Beech, Fleet and Compliance Manager at Home Bargains said: “Home Bargains started operating its first 10 CNG tractor vehicles in December 2019. The experience has been very positive and we have witnessed first hand the benefits of running our trucks on biomethane.
“We have worked closely with CNG Fuels over several years to develop our gas fleet strategy and are delighted to see the first 10 vehicles in operation. We are looking to add more CNG vehicles to our fleet and expect the first 10 vehicles to reduce total GHG emissions by more than 1,200 tonnes a year, compared to running diesel vehicles.”
