Heavy vehicles move the cleanest with domestic biogas
Biogas produced from organic waste is now the cheapest fuel for the city’s heavy vehicles, shows a calculation by Espoo’s sustainability experts. The new EU directive also obliges the transition to fossil fuels in vehicle procurement.
Jani Sipiläinen, Logistics Service Manager for the City of Espoo, says that already 60 percent of the city’s heavy vehicles are refuelled with biodiesel. According to a recent calculation, there is even a cheaper way to reduce emissions.
– We investigated the cost benefits of domestic and fossil-free biogas compared to a diesel truck, says Sipiläinen.
Based on this, biogas processed from biowaste and sewage sludge is not only almost emission-free, but now also the most affordable fuel for heavy transport.
The sharp rise in diesel prices in recent months has made biogas an even more attractive option. For example, replacing a Mercedes-Benz Atego road maintenance truck with a gas-powered truck at fuel prices in January 2022 would have saved the city of Espoo about 15,000 euros in fuel costs over its entire life cycle. In March 2022, the price of diesel had risen to 2.2 euros per litre, and the savings in fuel costs with biogas had already risen to more than 40,000 euros.
According to the calculation, when purchasing new heavy vehicles for the city, a gas truck is the best option both economically and environmentally. Slightly higher purchase prices are compensated by savings in fuel costs and emissions.
– The price difference compared to a diesel-powered truck is about 16,000 euros, and there are no differences in maintenance costs or availability, says Development Manager Tiia Tuuri at the Espoo Centre for Sustainable Development. Low-emission is also emphasised in procurement of maintenance services.
As a renewable fuel, greenhouse gas emissions of biogas during its life cycle are up to 85 percent lower than from fossil diesel. Biogas is also completely domestic energy.
The savings increase linearly as the mileage increases. In city maintenance, the mileage of an example truck averages only about 20,000 km per year, but there are large regional differences in usage.
– In Northern Espoo, the distances are longer and accumulated kilometres are twice as much, as are savings, Tiia Tuuri says.
In the private sector, mileage is often even higher and subsidies are available for the purchase of a gas car.
Rid of diesel in carbon-neutral Espoo
Even if the spike in fossil fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine remains temporary, environmental reasons will also force the city to change the power source of more than 40 trucks in use. In 2030, Espoo will be a carbon-neutral city, and the city’s fossil fuels will be replaced by either green electricity, biogas or biodiesel, perhaps also hydrogen. The change is also stipulated by EU legislation, which requires an increase in the share of low-emission vehicles in public procurement.
As a fuel for passenger cars, electricity is becoming more widespread, but the supply for heavy vehicles is still very limited. In this case, gas is an excellent option. The car industry estimates that for heavy trucks over 16 tonnes, as a fuel gas will become more popular faster than electricity in the next few years.
There are three Gasum gas filling stations in Espoo and more than ten in the entire Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Good fuel availability has already attracted many companies to use biogas. One of Gasum’s 120 gas refuelling companies in Espoo is Eerola-Yhtiöt Oy, which operates in Juvanmalmi. The company’s suction trucks empty the waste accumulated in the grease traps of restaurants and the city of Espoo and transport it to a biogas plant for processing. Many of the company’s cars are powered by biogas.
– This is a circular economy at its best, Tiia Tuuri says.
TEXT: Petja Partanen
For more inforamtion:
Espoo compared the life cycle costs of diesel trucks to biogas.
The Future of Biogas webinar offered perspectives on the current situation of biogas and envisioned the prospects for its use in the near future.
Traficom subsidies for the purchase of a low-emission vehicle(external link, opens in a new window)
The article is made possible by the RAKKE project. The City of Espoo Solution path to sustainable growth ecosystems (RAKKE) project is funded by the Uusimaa sustainable growth and vitality support (UKKE) funding.
