Gaz : Ural NEXT gas vehicle covered over 6 000 km on the roads of Europe and Russia in the rally "Blue Corridor"

Ural NEXT CNG truck completed participation in the international rally of vehicles running on natural gas 'Blue Corridor-2017: Iberia - Baltiya' Based on the results of the rally Ural NEXT - a cargo passenger truck with a crane manipulator - was handed over to one of Gazprom companies, Gazprom PHG, for trial operation. Ural NEXT will be operated in Kaliningrad for technical maintenance and repair purposes.

The international gas fueled car rally organized by PJSC Gazprom, started on 18 September in Lisbon and passed through Madrid, Milan, Ulm, Berlin, Tallinn and St. Petersburg. Ural NEXT gas vehicle joined the rally in the German town of Ulm, in the course of the route the vehicle successfully overcame all kinds of roads and drove 6.5 thousand miles on the roads of Russia, Belarus, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia.

The Ural NEXT vehicle that took part in the rally, is a new development of GAZ Group and was first presented to the public during this event. The truck uses a combined fuel feeding system with the use of liquefied natural gas LNG and compressed natural gas CNG, which makes it possible to fill in the truck with both kinds of fuel at the fuel filling stations The total cruising range of the vehicle with the combined fuel system is about 1000 km, which is one of the best parameters for all-wheel-drive trucks.

The use of the gas transport ensures high fuel economy. During the race the crew of Ural NEXT calculated that when filling it with methane in Germany for 10 EUR the mileage is 31 km, while the mileage when filling it with the same amount of diesel fuel is 17 km. In Russia when fueling it for 1000 rubles with gas you can cover 167 km, and with diesel - 65 km. I.e. in Europe the fuel efficiency of the gas vehicle is almost by two times higher than the diesel, and in Russia almost by three times.

Gas transport also means less impact on the environmental. So the exhaust gas emissions, such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, are reduced by 66% and 89% respectively when compared with the emissions of diesel vehicles.

The vehicle is fitted with an economical four-stroke in-line six-cylinder gas engine YAMZ-536 produced by Yaroslavl Motor Plant of GAZ Group. The truck accomodates nine gas cylinders placed behind the cabin totaling 892 l for compressed natural gas and a cryogenic tank on the frame with the capacity of 450 l for liquefied gas. Liquefied natural gas, chilled to the temperature of minus 162° C is stored in the kriotank and before feeding to the engine is converted from liquid to gaseous form. The volume of the regasified fuel is approximately 240 cubic meters.

When choosing a design configuration of the gas equipment the key properties of the vehicle were taken into consideration: retaining a high levels of geometric cross-country capacity, meeting the requirements to ensure effective installation properties and parameters of the payload of the chassis.

The new generation Ural NEXT truck combines the legendary cross-country capacities of Ural off-roaders with a modern level of comfort, reliability and safety. Ural NEXT running on liquefied and compressed natural gas, is a prototype that extends the lineup of vehicles made by the automobile plant Ural. The lineup also includes Ural trucks with gas-diesel fuel system that can run in diesel and gas-diesel modes. The Ural gas vehicles provide low fuel costs while maintaining the functionality and reliability.

Ural produces all-wheel-drive trucks and chassis with high cross-country capabilities and the wheel formulas 4x4, 6x6, 8x8 with the payload capacity ranging from 4 to 23 tons; shift buses on the base of all-wheel-drive Ural vehicles with wheel formulas 4x4 and 6x6, as well as cargo-passenger trucks.