Lawsons, the family-owned timber and building materials merchants, has taken delivery of its first CNG-powered Iveco Stralis NP.
The official handover of the vehicle took place at the LoCITY Fuels In Action Roadshow at Kempton Park Racecourse, with Dunstable-based Northern Commercials securing a fast lead time for the factory-ordered vehicle.
The Stralis NP 6×2 rigid has been specified for operation around Greater London, and is based at Lawson’s Camden depot just half a mile from the nearest CNG refueling station. It also features a Hiab X-HiPro 142E-2 crane, powered by an electric power take off (ePTO) for silent and efficient loading and unloading of building materials and fencing products.
David Harvey, Group Transport Manager at Lawsons, says: “We recognised there was a huge potential for trialling gas vehicle technology in our fleet and once we started speaking with IVECO, they demonstrated a real desire to make it happen. IVECO could also offer precisely the specification of truck we wanted and deliver it into service quickly. IVECO’s expertise in gas-powered commercial vehicles has proven invaluable throughout the whole process of specifying and putting our first CNG truck into service. The need to reduce emission levels, particularly in the London area, is a major issue and we wanted to become an early adopter of this new technology. We’ll be monitoring the performance of the Stralis closely, and if it performs well, we are very confident about adding more natural gas-powered vehicles when we replace older diesel trucks in the fleet.”
