Managing Director of Scania Tanzania Ltd, Lars Eklund, officially announces the company’s plan to unveil new edition of Scania buses that use natural gas, which transport analysts tout as more suitable for Tanzania, especially in the Bus Rapid Transit system. The event took place today at the company’s head office at Vingunguti, Dar es Salaam.
Managing Director of Scania Tanzania Ltd, Lars Eklund, speaks during the company’s executive briefing on its scheduled launch of new class of Scania buses that employ natural gas, which transport analysts tout as suitable for Tanzania, especially in the Bus Rapid Transit system. The event took place today at the company’s head office at Vingunguti, Dar es Salaam. To his left is Scania Tanzania Ltd Marketing Manager, Eliavera Timoth.
Marketing Manager of Scania Tanzania Ltd, Eliavera Timoth (right) speaks during the company’s announcement that it will launch in the market new version of Scania buses that run on natural gas, considered as more suitable for Tanzania, especially in the Bus Rapid Transport system. The event took place at the company’s head office at Vingunguti, Dar es Salaam. To his right is Scania Tanzania Ltd Managing Director, Lars Eklund.
By Scania Reporter;
Scania Tanzania Ltd has made an announcement today about its CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) buses and why they would be ideal for the Tanzanian market and especially for BRT city buses. This product is just one part of the company’s commitment to ensure that they lead the shift of the transport industry to a sustainable future. Scania believe that it is time for Tanzania to adopt this and other solutions to improve the lifestyle of the people, both economically and environmentally.
Tanzania has huge reserves of Natural Gas and needs thousands of city buses for the BRT systems which Scania can deliver. Scania has since managed to deliver the CNG gas buses for quite a while and have delivered in delivered in different parts of the world like South America, Europe and Australia among others. The CNG driven buses come equipped with a “green” Euro 6 compliant engine that reduces the CO2 up to 20%, the same engine can also run on locally produced biogas to reach a CO2 reduction of as much as 90%. It is paramount to reduce CO2 as it is the main contributor to the global warming issues. Buses fitted with these engines produces less particles and lower emissions in the air and is very efficient in terms of fuel consumption and can achieve lower operational costs that benefit the passengers in terms of low ticket prices, income for the government to sell local Natural Gas and an advantage for the operators too to cut their operational costs. A “win win win” solution.
Dar es salaam is expanding quite rapidly with an ever-increasing population and it is important to not only think of how this will affect the movement in the city but also to consider how this will happen in a way that is safe for the environment and the citizens.
Speaking during the announcement at their head office, located in Vingunguti along Julius Nyerere Road, the Managing Director of Scania Tanzania, Lars Eklund said, as Tanzania is working towards becoming more industrialized, it is important that efficiency becomes key and that the environment is not forgotten along the process. ‘We believe that Tanzania needs to adopt world tested technologies and move at the same pace with other developed countries’, he added. ‘Tanzania is very rich in natural gas and it is important to use this local energy to the country´s advantage, the country will gain tremendously as it will save on the amount of oil that is imported’ and can instead sell the local gas to local operators, said Mr Eklund.
Further, he also explained “that it is a very poor technical solution and expensive to try convert a current diesel engine to a gas engine. He mentioned that there has been talks in the media to do so for the current BRT buses, technical and economically it does not make sense. The diesel engine is designed to run in a “diesel cycle” while a gas and petrol engine runs according to the Otto principle with a spark plug ignition. All Scania CNG engines run according to the Otto principle and are thus efficient and reliable. It therefor very important that the plans for the CNG infrastructure expansion get real and dates are firm so suppliers and operators can dare to invest in proper CNG gas products to be used on the streets as soon as possible. Hopefully already for the next BRT phase in Dar es Salaam.”
As part of its efforts to promote after sales services, Scania Tanzania is seeking cooperation with Education institutions to offer scholarship to students that are pursuing studies related to CNG. This will increase the number of technicians and professionals in that field and thus increase support to customers that operate the buses. The Marketing Manager, Eliavera Timoth explained that not only is this part of their commitment to improve service but also a way of giving back to the community and making sure that they make an impact in the market.
About Scania Tanzania
Scania Tanzania Ltd, operates as a subsidiary of Scania CV AB with its HQ in Sweden. The company is the exclusive importer and distributor of Scania products in the country with an extensive network for services supporting its customers. The Dar es Salaam-headquartered firm has dealerships in Arusha, Mwanza, Mbeya and Parts outlets in several other locations and is annually investing in growth and improvements in its network and customer services.
The company entered the market in 1973 when Scania CV AB delivered 200 tipper trucks to the Chinese who were constructing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway line (TAZARA).
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