Strong growth in use of gas in transport in Lahti – second gas filling station now opened in the area

The Nordic gas filling station network continues to grow in strength with the opening of Gasum’s new filling station in the Kujala district of Lahti. The new filling station enables passenger cars and heavy-duty road transport alike to fill up with gas at a key transport node. The first gas filling station in Lahti was opened in front of K-Citymarket Lahti Laune, where customers can fill up with compressed natural gas and biogas for passenger cars, delivery vehicles, refuse collection vehicles and buses. The new gas filling station in Kujala means that heavy-duty road transport, too, can now fill up with gas in Lahti.

“Use of gas in transport has increased very rapidly in the Lahti area and the new filling station will further fuel this development. The new station opened in Lahti is part of the Gasum filling station network being constructed for heavy-duty vehicles in the Nordic countries. The new LNG and LBG stations will be located at busy transport hubs, enabling a switch to cleaner fuels in long-distance operations,” says Jukka Metsälä, Vice President, Traffic, Gasum.

Pontus Stenberg, CEO of Kiitosimeon, a Rajamäki-based transport company, believes that looking ahead increasingly more attention will be given to emissions from heavy-duty road vehicles.

“The transport industry has a key role to play in cutting emissions in society and this is reflected in the growing demands for eco-friendliness in the sector. Heavy-duty road transport needs a choice of low-emission, cost-efficient fuels. The new filling station is again a leap in the right direction,” Stenberg says.

New filling station supports the City of Lahti’s emissions targets

The growth in the popularity of gas in the Lahti area also supports the objective of the City of Lahti to be carbon neutral already in 2025. Emissions are being reduced through, for example, the circular economy by producing biogas from the city’s biowaste at the biogas plant in Lahti.

”The biogas plant enabling the circular economy has been operating in Lahti since back in 2014. Use of Finnish biogas as a traffic fuel and energy production from renewable sources are important eco-deeds which, when carried out together with local companies, benefit society as a whole,” says Saara Vauramo, Environmental Director, City of Lahti.

100% Finnish and renewable biogas is produced from feedstocks such as household biowaste, food waste from stores and from municipal sewage sludge. Use of biogas as a transport fuel makes it possible to generate up to 85% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional fuels. Use of natural gas in transport generates around 25% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline and very low local emissions, which improves urban air quality.

There are currently already 45 gas filling stations in Finland and new stations are being opened in different places, with stations to serve heavy-duty long-distance transport from the south to the north of the country. There are gas filling stations for heavy-duty road transport in Lahti, Turku, Vantaa, Helsinki, Jyväskylä and Oulu. Besides these, new stations for heavy-duty vehicles and passenger cars are being planned for Seinäjoki and Kuopio among other places. In addition, a new station will be opened in June in conjunction with the IKEA store in Raisio to serve cars, delivery vehicles and refuse collection vehicles.