Representing the company, and invited by the Chair of Mechanical Engineering in the Carlos III University, was Antonio Bravo Díaz, Director of the FCC Medio Ambiente Machinery Department. He gave a talk on the design and operation of solid urban waste collection and street cleaning vehicles using natural gas, a technology provided by FCC that notably reduces noise and air emissions of polluting particles.

After a brief presentation of FCC, Antonio explained the development of the natural gas vehicles designed by the company over 20 years as well as the engines used and the great variety of vehicles available, practically the same as those chassis using Diesel fuel.

He also explained the advantages of using natural gas as well as the key points for designing and sizing compression and refuelling plants, and gave some cost patterns, always referring to or compared with the equivalent Diesel vehicles.

To conclude, he presented FCC Medio Ambiente’s fleet of electric vehicles (of which there are more than 600 units) with special emphasis on heavy pure electric vehicles for the sewerage contract in Barcelona, some of which carry batteries with a storage capacity of up to 400 kWh.

He also described the hybrid electric vehicles with internal combustion engines using natural gas that can provide the service within the city completely electrically, the technological leadership of FCC in the sector being evident.