Sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) have seen a dramatic increase during 2020, compared to last year.
Supplier Gasrec says it saw a five-fold increase in its gas sales in its commercial vehicle refuelling network in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
James Westcott, chief commercial officer at Gasrec, said: “The growth we have seen has been phenomenal, with volumes more than doubling between the final quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Registrations of gas-powered 44-tonners has played a big role, together with the general realisation from the industry that gas represents the best opportunity right now to significantly reduce emissions and running costs.”
Despite Gasrec having three supermarket chains amongst its major customers, they now expect demand for CNG and LNG to flatten off temporarily as fewer new alternatively fuelled trucks take to the road, due to the coronavirus.
But volumes of gas needed by the supermarkets has increased.
“One supermarket we supply doubled its demand for gas inside a week. But that’s been largely balanced, as in other areas we’ve seen a small volume of customer vehicles – those not carrying essential goods – being temporarily parked up,” added Westcott.
