Ocado opens gassing station

Online supermarket Ocado has opened its first natural gas refuelling station at its Hatfield Customer Fulfilment Centre.

Ocado is the first UK retailer to self-fund the purchase of an onsite grid-connected station outright.

The site launched with 29 trucks powered by blended biomethane, a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Replacing existing diesel vehicles, this represents 20% of the online retailer’s HGV fleet, an industry-leading figure.

Environmental benefits of switching to gas include 99% less particulates emissions and 70% less nitrogen oxide than the latest diesel standard. The new vehicles will reduce the Ocado HGV fleet’s CO2 emissions by 29% annually and are on average 50% quieter than diesel trucks. Ocado’s gas refuelling station has been designed and built by Gasrec.