Lidl, IVECO, LC3 and Edison introduce the first biomethane-fuelled vehicles in the supermarket’s Italian fleet

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IVECO Trucks Press Release  /  January 23, 2020

Lidl's new green fleet has been presented at their logistics centre in Somaglia (Lombardy) and will be used to restock points of sale in Northern Italy. With biomethane, CO₂ emissions are reduced by 95% and resources are used in a circular cycle.

Five new biomethane-fuelled vehicles in the Lidl fleet were today unveiled, a result of the company's collaboration with IVECO, LC3 Trasporti and Edison. This is a first in the Italian Retail and Mass Distribution Sector, which again highlights the partners’ unwavering commitment.

Unveiled during a press conference at Lidl's logistics centre in Somaglia, the new IVECO Stralis NP 460 HP CNG will be powered by biomethane, a renewable and sustainable fuel both in terms of the levels of CO₂ emitted by the vehicle and of life cycle emissions, which are significantly lower compared to other types of fuel.

Pietro Rocchi, Managing Director of Sales and Logistics at Lidl Italia commented on Lidl's commitment to favouring greener logistics, “We are extremely proud to be the first Italian company to use the newest vehicles powered by biomethane, a fuel that promotes an economic model based on sustainability and the circularity of resources. Our long-term goal is to gradually switch from transport that mainly runs on fossil fuels to alternative fuels with reduced CO₂ emissions, such as biomethane and liquid natural gas (LNG), already used in a large fleet of vehicles. Lidl's quest for more sustainable logistics started in 2015, when we introduced the first LNG-fuelled trucks. Since then we have achieved extremely positive results: even though we've continually expanded our activity and open on average 40 new points of sale per year, we have still managed to reduce CO₂ emissions by 5.2% -- that's 620,000 tons of emissions avoided. We would like to thank our partners for helping us with this initiative: LC3, IVECO and Edison. They are all large companies, leaders in their respective sectors, and share our values and commitment to sustainability”.

This choice was made possible by technology developed by IVECO, a leading manufacturer of commercial and industrial vehicles, as Alessandro Oitana, Medium & Heavy Business Line Manager at IVECO stated: “IVECO has realised that the path to sustainable transport requires alternative traction systems and has met the increasingly pressing demands in this area with natural gas powered vehicles (gaseous and liquefied), which, are today the only concrete and immediately available alternative in order to provide sustainable transport. The true alternative that is already a reality today is biomethane, which enables the almost total abatement of CO₂ emissions, creating a virtuous circle of economical and eco-friendly self-sufficiency; in fact, it is a shining example of circular economy. To arrive where we are today, we at IVECO have been working for many years, reaching the point where we can guarantee safety, infrastructure and mileage range. The world is changing, and it is changing fast, and the future will definitely see the introduction of new technologies. However, the road to achieving the same conditions in terms of load capacity level, range, refilling times and infrastructures remains long, therefore we feel that the only current solution that is both readily available and economically sustainable is biomethane, in all forms, be it CNG or LNG.”

Mario Ambrogi, Executive Director of LC3 Trasporti continued, highlighting that: “Ever since LC3 was founded we have paid maximum attention to technological innovations and technologies in the heavy-duty road transport production sector, which could signal the start of a new form of road haulage characterised by paying extreme attention both to environmental problems and active and passive safety. It is only thanks to the first vehicles introduced by IVECO in 2013, the innovative LNG-fuelled vehicles, and an awareness of environmental problems shown by Lidl, that LC3 have been able to develop our own new method of organising transportation, up until today, when we have achieved another important result by choosing biomethane- fuelled trucks. There still remains a lot to do as regards biomethane production systems, storage, liquefaction and widespread distribution systems; but in any case, LC3 confirms its commitment and reliance on biomethane, as do its partners IVECO, Lidl and Edison.”

The topic of environmental sustainability and the protection of resources are what drive Edison Energia, as Davide Macor, Edison Business Market Director stated: “The use of renewable energy sources and the decarbonisation of transport are some of Edison's core objectives, in line with European targets on sustainability. Today we are extremely proud to announce another step forward in the mass distribution model, thanks to the responsible and joint commitment of all operators in the chain. Edison now supplies methane to more than 200 refuelling stations across Italy, is a member of GSE for biomethane, and is currently the main operator qualified to collect and distribute this fuel. Furthermore, Edison is involved in creating the first logistics chain that integrates LNG for further development of sustainable mobility in heavy- duty and maritime transport. Thanks to these developments, Edison's contribution to distributing sustainable mobility is based on a full range of services that include electrical, methane and biomethane, LNG and soon BioLNG mobility."

The five biomethane-fuelled vehicles will operate in neighbouring areas around the logistics centre in Somaglia, one of the ten Lidl logistics platforms located across Italy.
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