SEAT has handed over a vehicle running on compressed natural gas (CNG) to the Port of Barcelona, to promote the use of this new technology. The hand-over, the first concerning a vehicle of this nature to an institution, has been formalised in the presence of Joan Colldecarrera, Deputy President of the Port, and André Koropp, Automotive Institutions Manager at SEAT.
This vehicle hand-over is the result of an agreement between the Port of Barcelona and SEAT. The car is a SEAT Mii Ecofuel, equipped with two CNG tanks with a total capacity of 11kgs supplying an Otto-cycle engine, and offering a range of 380 kilometres in gas-mode. Additionally, it has another 10-litre 95-octane premium petrol tank used as back-up when the gas supply runs out. All in all, the SEAT Mii Ecofuel has a range of 600 kilometres.
Port’s commitment to alternative fuels
In this way, the Port of Barcelona is strengthening its strategic commitment to the promotion of the use of alternative fuels to diesel and petrol for motoring within its service area. The option of natural gas as a fuel, whether in compressed or liquefied form, enables environmental air quality improvement to be accelerated while at the same time making the Port of Barcelona’s sectors of logistics and transport more competitive. This is due to the fact that the price of natural gas as a fuel is lower than that of petrol or diesel fuel, a trend that is expected to intensify over the next few years.
Additionally, it is significant that the emissions of polluting gases and particles in suspension of light vehicles running on CNG are substantially lower than similar emissions from a diesel-fuelled vehicle. Nitrogen oxide emissions are 85% lower and particle emission is so low as to be negligible.
Mii Ecofuel, SEAT’s lowest-emission vehicle
The car manufacturer has made a commitment to the development of CNG as an alternative fuel to petroleum-derived ones with a view to cutting greenhouse gases like CO2. Currently SEAT already markets the CNG Mii Ecofuel in Germany, Italy, Sweden Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Marketing of the new model will begin in Spain at the beginning of next year.
Currently, SEAT has two vehicles running on CNG. The Mii Ecofuel – at 79 g/km the volume production vehicle with the lowest CO2 emissions in the history of the company, and exceeding all sales expectations in markets like Italy – is the model in which CNG technology is most firmly established.
The new Leon 1.4 TGI – SEAT’s latest model signalling commitment to CNG, will join the most sustainable city car at the beginning of 2014. With its very low consumption figures and lower fuel price, it will be one of the most economical vehicles on the market. The Leon TGI will offer a range of 400 kilometres in CNG-only mode, with an average fuel consumption of 3.5 kg (approximately 3.5 euros) of gas per 100 km, with CO2 emissions at 94g/km. In petrol-mode, the model has an additional range of 900 kilometres, and with its two tanks can cover 1,300 kilometres without the need to refuel.