Gasum has opened a new gas filling station at Kranaattikuja 2 in Kuopio, Eastern Finland, to offer passenger cars and heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) more environmentally friendly fuels that “significantly” reduce transport emissions. The company plans to expand its gas filling station network to 50 stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway by the early 2020s.
The new Kuopio station will offer biogas to road vehicles. Biogas is produced from biological waste and lowers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated over the fuel life cycle by up to 85% compared with traditional fossil fuels. The gas filling station also serves HDVs by offering liquefied natural gas (LNG), a low-emission fuel that enables a cut of more than 20% in GHG emissions over the fuel life cycle.
The popularity of driving on gas is increasing, with more than 4,000 gas cars entering Finland’s roads during 2019 alone. ”The Kuopio filling station provides more and more businesses and private individuals with access to environmentally friendly gas fuel,” said Olli Paasio, Gasum’s director of Traffic Finland. “The station’s location is also excellent for LNG-fueled heavy-duty long-haul operations.”
Director of the transport and logistics company Niemi Services, Juha Niemi, stated: ”We got our first biogas vehicles in 2016, and today already 25% of our fleet runs on biogas. The growing gas filling station network enables us to use our biogas vehicles more extensively in Finland. We have biogas vehicles at all of our seven branches now that our Kuopio branch also received its first biogas vehicle.”
