‘World’s largest’ low-carbon refuelling station for HGVs opens near Bristol

Renewable biomethane provider, CNG Fuels, yesterday opened what it claims is the ‘world’s largest public access biomethane refuelling station’ in Avonmouth, near Bristol.

The site will meet the growing demand from major brands to cut emissions from haulage and save money, while also supporting the decarbonisation of the UK’s road haulage sector, responsible for 18% of total UK road transport emissions.

The facility is capable of refuelling 80 HGVs/hour from 14 high-speed dispensers. When fully utilised, the station will cut 70,000 tonnes of GHGs a year by taking diesel HGVs off the road.

Demand for renewable biomethane has increased by 1,000% over the past five years as brands across the country urgently seek to cut haulage emissions in line with the UK’s net zero strategy. The demand is predicted to increase five-fold over the next five years as the UK’s 2040 ban on the sale of new diesel HGVs approaches.

The new station is closely situated to existing customers, such as Royal Mail, Warburtons and Amazon, helping major household brands to slash haulage emissions and align with the UK’s net zero targets. Lidl supermarket is the latest brand to convert its fleets to renewable biomethane.

“We are committed to reducing our environmental impact across our entire operations and switching our fleets over to renewable biomethane instead of diesel is a crucial step,” said Jason Wild, Distribution and Recycling Consultant of Lidl.

100% of the fuel supplied by CNG Fuels is renewable and sustainable biomethane, sourced from food waste and approved under the Department for Transport’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme. Renewable biomethane is the lowest carbon and most cost-effective alternative to diesel for HGVs, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% and reducing lifetime vehicle costs by 30%-40%.

“Brands across the country are under more and more pressure to cut emissions from fleets and renewable biomethane is the only commercially viable solution on the market today,” said Philip Fjeld, CEO of CNG Fuels. “We are continuing to see high increases in demand and with the recent news of the 2040 ban on new diesel HGVs, we expect the pace of demand to continue.”

The site joins eight existing refuelling stations already operated by CNG Fuels, with most of the country already within a 300-mile range of a CNG Fuels refuelling station. By 2023, the company will have 20 large public access stations in operation to meet the exponential growth in demand.

Last year the company announced plans to host hydrogen fuel trials across its expanding UK-wide network to ensure stations are already to support a multi-fuel future as different technologies develop and become commercially viable. The first hydrogen trails are due to begin this year and by 2025, CNG Fuels plans to allocate 100 acres of its land to public access hydrogen refuelling.