John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has had 38 of its Daf CFs converted into dual-fuel units, running on a mixture of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG).
The vehicles have been converted by Prins Autogas and will be used to deliver to John Lewis and Waitrose branches across the country.
They each have a range of between 600 and 700 miles when running on the new CNG and diesel blend. Once the CNG supply is used up, the engine then switches automatically to the diesel tanks for around another 200 miles.
JLP estimates that the vehicles will have an annual mileage of 100,000 miles each and the natural gas system will help it significantly reduce its carbon footprint. Prins also claims that the operator will quickly recover its investment in the system as the price of CNG is lower than diesel.
Fleet manager Justin Laney said: “We have big ambitions to reduce the carbon footprint of our fleet, and the use of low carbon fuels, especially bio-methane, is fundamental to this. We see dual-fuel CNG as a good pathway to using greater quantities of biomethane in our heavy truck feet.”
Earlier this year Waitrose put six dual-fuel tractor units into operation alongside a fleet of aerodynamic refrigerated trailers that are powered by the vehicle’s engine.
