Taxis line up for slow-fill biomethane
Bios Group, one of the larger players in the field of passenger transport in the Netherlands, has been contracted to provide the WMO (social services) taxi transport in the Zuid-Kennemerland/IJmond region of North Holland for a 4-year period, using vehicles which run on biomethane. The company has entered into an arrangement with CNG Net, a Ballast Nedam subsidiary, and the company responsible for the investment in the filling station and supply of biomethane.
Filling station builder Ballast Nedam IPM is responsible for the design, realisation and maintenance of the entire filling station. Filling up with biomethane takes place in a unique manner, completely new to the Netherlands. After their shift, the drivers connect up their natural gas cars to a so-called ‘time-fill’ installation on the taxi company premises. This fills the vehicles with biomethane during the evening and night hours. In order to avoid waiting times while filling up, all forty cars can be connected up simultaneously. When the drivers arrive for their morning shift, the tank is full for them to hit the road.
A special feature of the project is that the filling station on the BIOS Group premises gets its gas from an existing CNG Net filling station (adapted and renewed for this project), situated some 200 metres away from the taxi company. The BIOS filling station was operational within 3 months of the CNG Net assignment being granted.
The filling process is monitored by a 24/7 service organisation in order to guarantee continuity and operational safety. Any malfunctions can be detected at an early stage and action can be taken very directly.
The filling station was officially opened in mid-2011 by Mr. Rob van Doorn, councilor for Sustainability & Mobility of the municipality of Haarlem. Clean and sustainable driving on biomethane is totally in keeping with the target of the municipality to be a climate neutral city by 2030.
(This article compiled using information from a Ballast Nedam press release)
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