Iveco will manufacture gas-powered bus in Argentina

The Iveco Group took one more step in its transport decarbonization program Natural Power in Latin America, confirming the production of the 17-ton chassis powered by natural gas or biomethane at the Córdoba plant in Argentina.

The announcement happened one week after the brand decided to produce the Hi-Way natural-gas heavy truck at the Sete Lagoas, MG unit.

The chassis will be the first of the bus lineup to be made in Córdoba and the second gas-powered product in Argentina, where it also assembles a version of the medium truck Tector. The deliveries for Latin America are scheduled for the second half of 2023.

This way, besides strengthening the commitment to sustainability through the Natural Power program, the 17G21 chassis project will make the Argentinian unit an export pole of the product.

“There is a great export potential to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Paraguay,” commented Danilo Fetzner, Iveco Bus’s regional commercial director.

To export to Brazil, the executive mentioned the need for a homologation process that takes six to eight months. “We shall begin to take orders from April next year”, estimates Fetzner.

The 17G21 chassis is based on the brand’s conventional 17-ton model, produced in Sete Lagoas. The product is used in urban and interurban applications, with 12 to 13.2 meter-long bodies.

It has a 5.9-liter FPT engine with 204 cv and 76.5 kgfm. With six cylinders carrying 100 m³ of gas, the vehicle has autonomy from 250 to 300 km. The fueling time is 20 minutes. The use of natural gas ensures a 90% reduction of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 10% less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. With biomethane, the CO2 emission is 95% lower.

The gas-powered chassis can be up to 30% more expensive than the conventional diesel version. “The difference is recovered in a medium-term,” tells Fetzner, recalling the reduction of the operational cost can reach up to 20%, “especially due to the lower fuel price”.

The 17G21 will be part of a 53 years-old Iveco production operation in Argentina. The Córdoba plant, the only one in the country manufacturing trucks, has a nominal capacity of 14 thousand units per year.

It currently has close to 500 workers, producing 27 vehicles a day. A single assembly line produces four truck ranges, from light to heavy models. The forecast for this year is to produce 5.6 thousand units and grow around 5% at the end of 2023, up to 5.9 thousand vehicles manufactured.