Abstract
The FIAT group has been active in the search for and application of alternative fuels for road vehicles for many years. IVECO, the industrial vehicle division of the Group, now sees a significant increase in demand for CNG-powered vehicles.
IVECO has identified certain sectors where CNG can be an alternative for our customers. This is a first step in identifying engineering and production processes to contain product costs, and in evaluating the needs of the service network.
The transfer of the knowledge gained from low volume applications into a general product offering is now of key importance as, whilst all such developments can never be without risk, there must be some acceptable economic basis.
Considerable progress still needs to be made in agreeing technical standards acceptable throughout Europe - both from the legislative point of view and that of the operators - in order to reduce development times and product costs.