German pizza company gives its fleet a slice of CNG power

Hallo Pizza, based in Langenfeld, invested in a fleet of fifty Fiat ‘Natural Power’ cars to sell on to its franchisees. The company chose the EURO IV Fiat vehicles due to their ecological soundness and high re-selling price. The cars are bivalent-operated and therefore able to run on both compressed natural gas (CNG) and gasoline.

Very pleased
Hallo Pizza’s Dresden branch has seen its fuel costs fall significantly since switching to CNG cars. It has five Fiat Punto ‘Natural Power’ vehicles which it has been using since 2006. The CNG cars have helped reduce its fuel costs by a staggering fifty per cent when compared with its previous fleet of gasoline-run Fiat Seicento cars.

A spokesperson for Hallo Pizza Germany, said, “those of our franchisees who use the system are very pleased with it. We need to do everything to keep our costs as low as possible, which is an overwhelmingly difficult task these days.”

Low range
The only disadvantage found by the company is the relatively low range of the vehicles, particularly given the current scarcity of CNG filling stations. The range of 250 km can sometimes be used in just one delivery tour. As there is only one filling station within the delivery range of the Dresden store, it is often necessary to make long detours to refill the cars.

Manufacturer’s promises
The Dresden branch is extremely pleased with the CNG cars, finding the manufacturer’s promises to deliver reduced fuel costs well founded in practice. The cars consume 4.5 kg CNG/100 km, which is equivalent to fuel costs of around €4.5/100 km. To reach this low cost rate, a gasoline car would have to consume only 3.5 l/100km (at a gasoline price of 1.3 €/l). CNG fuel in Germany is also taxed at seventy per cent less than regular gasoline.

Fiat claims that compared to gasoline or diesel driven cars, its CNG driven cars emit a fraction of their pollutants: seventy-five per cent less carbon monoxide and sixty per cent less hydrocarbons than gasoline vehicles. They also emit seventy per cent less nitrogen oxides than diesel engines and, in CNG mode, create significantly less noise pollution.

Replacement
Due to the fast-changing market for sustainable fuels and new vehicle technology, it is not possible to predict what kind of cars Hallo Pizza will be purchasing when the present models are due for replacement. However, the company suggests that a repeat purchase of CNG cars is the most likely outcome.