The initiative forms part of a commitment to the European BIONIC project, which is funded by the European Commission and Intelligent Energy Europe programme and co-ordinated in Europe by Merseytravel. Its aim is to promote the production and use of sustainably produced biofuels in transport.
Merseytravel is supporting the two-year trial by providing a refuelling infrastructure to allow six Stagecoach vehicles to run on a greener blend of fuel — a B30 biodiesel mix supplied by producer Convert2Green.
All three partners in the project are members of the Merseytravel-run North West Biofuels Network.
The B30 biodiesel mix includes 30 per cent biodiesel from waste vegetable oil, which reduces the overall CO2 emissions from the buses by up to 25 per cent compared with standard diesel.
The trial in Liverpool will monitor vehicle reliability and fuel consumption, with the lessons learnt being used to support other bus operators who want to use biofuels.
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17 months or two and a half years - which is it?