As part of the Sustainable Mobility Week, iveco presented his first methane-powered bus produced in Argentina: the 170G21 bus.
The bus chassis will be produced entirely at the Ferreyra plant in Cordoba and will expand the range of vehicles of the Natural Power family, launched in the country in 2019.
With the launch of this new bus, two Iveco CNG models are already produced in the country; the other is the Tector light truck, introduced in 2020.
Gas as a propulsive energy
The Iveco 170G21 bus will have the capacity of 48 passengers and is designed for short and medium distance urban and interurban transport, a segment in which the bus market in Argentina is currently concentrated.
The vehicles will be equipped with the FPT Industrial NEF 6-cylinder CNG engine (each with a capacity of 80 liters), which offers a autonomy of 250 kilometers. In addition, it delivers a maximum power of 204 horsepower and has a torque of 760 Nm, reaching a top speed of 94 km / h.
Iveco emphasizes that it worked above all in the soundproofing of the engine so that it can reduce noise pollution and thus become an ideal vehicle for night services.
“To take care of the environment we don’t have to give up power or profitability, but the technology we use allows us to have the same performance as a diesel, lowering operating costs and, therefore, offering greater profitability to carriers”, he assures Francisco Spasaro, IVECO Commercial Director for Argentina.
In addition to supplying the local market, Iveco will export this vehicle to countries such as Colombia, Chile, Peru, the Dominican Republic and other importers in Latin America.
“We know the needs of our customers in the region and that is why our expectations for this vehicle are high,” said Danilo Fetzner, Sales Director of IVECO Bus in Latin America.
The heavyweight bet for CNG
For some years now, several companies have been focusing on compressed natural gas as an alternative for the transport of goods and passengers.
Particularly iveco Y Scania These are the companies that have promoted this fuel by launching several models in their ranges suitable for running on natural gas.
Unlike what happens with a private light vehicle, which can use both gas and petrol, trucks and buses are developed to run exclusively on natural gas.
The Iveco Natural Power range consists of the utility vehicles of the Iveco family Daily and for trucks Stralis Y vector.
The latter, produced with the 16-ton 160E21 configuration, is produced in Cordoba with a 4×2 short cab configuration, with a 5.9-liter engine with 210 horsepower and 750 Nm of maximum torque, developed exclusively to run on gas.
It is equipped with six methane tanks, each with a capacity of 80 liters, which, according to the brand, give it an approximate range of between 300 and 400 kilometers (depending on the load and driving mode).
For its part, Scania’s Green Efficiency line, presented in Argentina in March 2020, consists of trucks and buses also powered by alternative fuels to diesel, with a focus on gas (CNG and LNG) and biogas, of which it has already sold more of 200 units in the country.
Source: Clarin
