Cleaner coaches spun out of Oxford
17 Jan 2005
A new fuel additive developed by Oxford researchers and commercialised by Oxford spin-out company Oxonica is to be used by the entire UK bus fleet of Stagecoach Group.
Last year, Stagecoach signed an agreement with Cerulean International, a subsidiary of Oxonica, to trial the product in up to 1,000 vehicles across the country.
The international transport group conducted a 12-month commercial evaluation of the product in London and the north-west of England, and found that it had delivered more than 5% cut in fuel consumption and an associated decrease in vehicle emissions.
Based on cerium oxide, the Envirox additive is delivered into the combustion chamber of a vehicle pre-mixed with the fuel where it improves fuel consumption through two mechanisms.
First off, it modifies the combustion profile so that more useful work is delivered from each combustion cycle for a given quantity of fuel. Secondly, it lowers the combustion temperature, which causes a progressive clean-up of the engine allowing it to operate with optimum efficiency.
As a result of the successful trial, the fuel additive will now be rolled out over the next six months across Stagecoach's 7,000-strong bus fleet, which operates from the Highlands of Scotland to south west England.
