Iveco’s new bus is a gas

Iveco Bus has unveiled the next step in its alternative-drive programme for buses, having launched its Crossway Natural Power at Autocar Expo, in Lyon, France.

Completing the European Crossway range, the Crossway Natural Power is powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), but conserves the features that have ensured the diesel version’s success – autonomy, passenger capacity and hold volume. Importantly, it also maintains the same height and an equivalent operating cost.

Equipped with the latest-generation, 265 kW Iveco Cursor-9 NP engine and roof-mounted CNG tanks, the Crossway NP holds a total CNG capacity of 1 260 litres for a range up to 600 km, with rapid or slow filling.

It is available in 12- and 13-m lengths, with LINE and POP versions.

To assist public-transport operators as they transition to natural gas, the company has also developed a series of related services: from maintenance contracts to specific training modules, as well as a network of dealers and service points with long-standing expertise in the field of natural gas.

The Iveco Natural Power range is 100-percent compatible with biomethane, produced from organic waste, which means the vehicles have an excellent carbon balance and represent a concrete step towards the necessary energy transition. The environmental benefit is a reduction in greenhouse gas production of up to 95 percent.

Other promising solutions, such as “Power to Gas”, aim to produce synthetic methane using electrical energy from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. This solution also includes storage and distribution throughout the network.

Iveco is therefore of the opinion that natural-gas vehicles are the only mature, affordable, fossil-fuel-free solution that is suitable and equipped to meet current and future mobility challenges.