The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Thursday, 27th January 2011 between Scania Siam Co.,Ltd. and 8 prominent Thai partners namely the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP), Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), Pollution Control Department (PCD), Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), Petro Green Company Limited.
The project gets a funding from the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund, Ministry of Energy. It aims to evaluate the usage of ethanol ED95 on commercial vehicle to substitute diesel. The project coincides with the 15 year plan of the Government’s Energy Policy to enhance the usage of to enhance usage of ethanol in Thailand. Since the transport sector accounts for 70% of the total diesel consumption, the implementation of the project with a fixed-route bus in Bangkok could potentially lead to substantial reductions in CO2 emissions.
Sweden has more than 20 years of experience with ethanol buses introduced and produced by Scania. For instance the whole Stockholm City Bus Transit System is fuelled by ethanol and most of it through buses from Scania. Thailand could take the lead on this in South East Asia as the country has abundant raw materials from both sugarcane and cassava There are a number of Thai companies producing ethanol for local consumption as well as for export.
A newly assembled ethanol bus with stainless steel body will be on loan from Scania for the demonstration which will start running on one fixed route in Bangkok from May until October 2011.
