As Australia’s principal supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Elgas operates the country’s largest fleet of LPG tankers, operating from 49 sites around Australia including one of the Southern Hemisphere's largest LPG storage facilities, The Cavern in Port Botany.
Helping to move the LPG out to where consumers need it, in their homes and businesses, is a fleet of 10 new Isuzu tankers, a mix of FVR 1000 and FVD 1000 rigid trucks, with a gross combination weight of 32-tonnes per truck.
Damian Pennington, National Fleet Operations Manager for Elgas, says a mix of performance, reliability and efficient maintenance costs contributed to the decision to purchase Isuzu trucks.
“Elgas' metropolitan delivery fleet is required to travel around 55,000 kilometres a year and have engine hours in excess of 2,100 hours per annum,” Pennington says.
“When we specify trucks into tanker applications, we require the truck to have a full electronic engine which interfaces with our Program Logic Control System (PLCS).
“A key decision in choosing Isuzu was the SiTEC Series II engine's compatibility with the PLCS. The PLCS also enables Elgas to maintain a high level of safety compliance. The logic program electrically controls valve timing and sequencing as well as the safety shutdown system, minimising manual intervention.”
As well as the powerful, yet torquey SiTEC II engine, providing 221 kilowatts of power and 985 Newton-metres of torque, Elgas drivers get the excellent Allison automatic transmission, which helps make short work of both highway cruising and stop-start traffic.
The drivers also get the benefit of an Isri 6860 air suspension seat, a quiet and comfortable cabin, plus safety features such as Front Underrun Protection Device (FUPD), ECE-R29 cab strength compliance and a driver’s airbag.