Daimler Trucks North America presents a test result in the area of alternative drive systems. For the first time, a natural gas-fueled Freightliner Cascadia completed a tour from San Diego to Washington D.C. (approximately 2,700 miles), interrupted only by refueling stops every 350 to 500 miles. The CNG truck (CNG = compressed natural gas) only used public gas stations to refuel, thus impressively demonstrating that alternative drive technologies represent a real alternative even today. In light of this success, Daum promised that DTNA will keep pushing forward in the field of alternative drive systems and continue to cooperate closely with government agencies and form strategic alliances with other economic sectors. “We want to live up to our leadership position by promoting environmentally friendly, resource-conserving, and sustainable transportation solutions,” he said.
Now what the press release doesn’t mention is how much extra time was involved for all the tankstops. The problem of CNG is the small actiradius. Even with the long wheelbased American trucks there is not enough space for bigger tanks.