Southern Sales & Service introduces 100 percent CNG truck

Southern Sales and Service Company Limited (Southern Sales); local agents for Japanese vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Motors, has introduced a Medium Duty 100 percent compressed natural gas (CNG) truck.

The Isuzu NPR82U CNG truck is currently available as a Demo unit to be test driven by various commercial operators, since this is the first OEM CNG Medium Duty commercial vehicle of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago (TT).

The first person to test drive the vehicle was Rishi Ramroop of 4R’s Hardware in Gasparillo.

Speaking at the vehicle handover on July 14, Southern Sales' Managing Director, Imtiaz Ahamad, described the decision to bring a CNG truck to T&T as a “pioneering” one.

"This is an important milestone, we have been knocking on Isuzu’s door for a long time to supply this model to the region, it’s a good decision to break into the CNG commercial market segment," Ahamad said.

While in testing, detailed data has to be compiled and submitted to Isuzu’s parent company, which will analyse the information to maximise the performance on the vehicle.

This Isuzu NPR model uses a naturally aspirated 4.5 litre four-cylinder engine, putting out 130 horse power at 3200rpm and delivering 353Nm of torque at 1400rpm. This model has two CNG tanks which will have an approximate CNG capacity of 300 litres. One litre of CNG costs $1.00. This model carries a tray length of 16 feet.

President of the NGC CNG Company Limited (NGC CNG), Curtis Mohammed, said he envisions success for this model of vehicle.

"NGC CNG applauds Southern Sales for taking the lead in this market segment, as TT prefers new vehicles. We were waiting on an offering in this area and with the incentives from NGC CNG we expect this Isuzu model to be very successful," Mohammed stated.

In September 2016, officials of Isuzu Japan visited TT to test the CNG fuel to determine its compatibility with their CNG models of trucks, as well as to gain a better understanding of this country's CNG programme.