Two Scania Citywide buses, fuelled by locally produced bioethanol, are going through trials in the Finnish capital city, Helsinki.
The locally produced bioethanol fuel they are using has been produced through a project in which Scania has been cooperating with a number of partners, including the fuel-manufacturer and distributor St1.
Since it was launched two years ago, the project has examined the feasibility of using waste-based ethanol as fuel for distribution and refuse trucks working in a variety of conditions. The study has also looked at fuel-consumption and emissions.
The results so far show that waste-based ethanol is an environmentally sound alternative to conventional fuels.
The energy consumption of vehicles that use it is on par with that of diesel-powered vehicles, while the emission of particles is 80 percent lower than that for Euro 5 vehicles. Waste-based ethanol also reduces fossil fuel-based carbon-dioxide emissions by up to 90 percent.
The buses in the trial rely on Scania’s 9-litre 270 hp engines, which offer 1,200 Nm torque and are equipped with automated gearboxes. Scania’s ethanol-powered engines are based on the diesel principle.
Ethanol-powered buses do not differ from their diesel-powered counterparts in terms of the driver experience.
Scania’s experience with ethanol-powered buses stretches back 25 years. In the greater Stockholm area, for example, passengers are carried by some 500 ethanol-powered buses.
In fact, the use of ethanol is the most cost-effective, existing way of reducing transport-sector emissions.
