Warburtons steps on the gas with dual-fuel Mercedes-Benz Axors
‘Britain’s Favourite Baker’ has introduced a breath of fresh air to its distribution fleet in the shape of six dual-fuel Mercedes-Benz Axor tractor units.
Supplied by Birmingham dealer Midlands Truck & Van, the Axor 1840s arrived via engine conversion specialist Hardstaff Group, which carried out modifications – fully supported by Mercedes-Benz – to allow them to run on both diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG).
The new trucks are now working across the country, distributing the nation’s daily bread between Warburtons’ 14 bakeries and 13 satellite sites. Double-shifted, they are operating seven days per week and will average 100,000 miles per year.
Warburtons has been a committed user of gas-powered trucks for 10 years: 20 per cent of its 100-strong fleet of tractors already run on CNG and the company has its own gas storage and filling facilities.
Group Transport Manager Mark Sutcliffe said: “We’re committed to gas for environmental reasons – it’s a clean fuel that helps us to reduce our emissions and so meet our own carbon management and corporate social responsibility targets. But the trucks also had to make financial sense for our business, and a dependable warranty is a key part of that equation.
“Reliable performance is obviously crucial too and while Mercedes-Benz is a relatively new brand to Warburtons, having worked with the manufacturer in the past I am confident the vehicles will perform well in our operation.”
The Axors are the subject of a seven-year contract hire agreement with Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, a commercial vehicle brand of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. They are the first vehicles to wear Warburtons’ recently introduced, high visibility orange livery and work with a fleet of single- and double-decked Gray & Adams trailers.
Hardstaff’s conversion of the Axor’s straight-six, 400hp engine automatically feeds gas into the cylinders on demand, at a constantly variable ratio – Warburtons’ vehicles are achieving an average 60 per cent ‘substitution rate’; that is, the volume of diesel replaced by gas.
This translates into a sizeable reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. There is no noticeable difference in power delivery or in the driving experience and, should a vehicle run out of gas before its tanks can be topped up, it will run equally well on pure diesel.
Warburtons is also running five new 13-tonne Atego 1318 rigids, which operate from its site in Wednesbury, West Midlands. They have joined a fleet of 800 delivery trucks which service around 11,000 customers across Britain each day, from local corner shops to major supermarkets. A pair of Sprinter 313CDI vans, for smaller deliveries, completed the order.
