Environmental Awareness
It may seem at first that being `Green` ie environmentally aware, does not fit easily with road transport. In the UK, nearly all commercial vehicles are run on diesel, and the bodywork is made of steel, aluminium, or GRP panels. In many cases, buyers of commercials do look at fuel efficiency-mpg, and maybe at tail-pipe emissions, but accept that diesel is the only fuel available. Generally, the bodywork is accepted as a necessary evil as far as being greener is concerned, with few alternatives to traditional build methods.
At NBC Vehicle Solutions Ltd, we have decided to challange these pre-conceptions, not only with the bodywork we can offer, but with the whole vehicle. Recently, we began talks with Gas Container Services Ltd, another company here on The Colwick Industrial Estate. GCS have spent many years developing the means to re-fuel gas powered vehicles with bio-methane. They are putting re-fuelling stations in various locations for companies in the UK. Here in Colwick, they have one of the very few stations open to the public, available for use now.
This is the first step to making gas powered vehicles commercially viable, that they can be re-fuelled readily, without the necessity of buying a filling station. Next, the vehicles have to be usable on a day-to-day basis. The gas conversion typically puts 250kg onto the chassis weight, thus reducing the usable payload allowance. Using an NBC LightBody body, this weight penalty can be removed, and in many cases, the original allowance improved on. Looking at the LightRefuse tipper bodies: the original steel bodies gave a payload of 670kg. The LightBody bodies give 1300kg on a diesel powered chassis. So even with the 250kg extra weight, customers can still benefit from 1050kg payload, a net increase of 380kg!
Looking at this, the combination of gas power and LightBody makes perfect sense. Emissions can be reduced by up to 98%, and the vehicle has a light weight, and recyclable body. NBC are always looking to put more recyclable plastic into their designs, to make the vehicles more and more environmentally friendly. The whole vehicle is `green`, not just the body, not just the chassis, not just the fuel. It is a complete package which gives real solutions to companies, and local authorities who are looking to reduce their carbon footprint.
