August 23, 2022. The Italian pilot Guido Guerrini has set himself the challenge of reaching the Arctic Circle from Tuscany while consuming only biomethane. Upon his return, he made a very optimistic assessment of his adventure.
Guerrini has already left a strong mark in the world of events reserved for vehicles powered by alternative energies. In 2008 he created the TorPec (or Torino-Pechino) association on the occasion, as its name suggests, of a 1999 trip in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Fiat Marea between Turin, Italy, and Beijing, China.
Fourteen years and several trips later, he wanted to try out a great trip with Bio-NGV while energy prices, and natural gas in particular, are experiencing significant tensions. In 2019 he had arrived in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with a natural gas car. By 2022, with this European Bio-NGV Tour, the objective is to promote the use of biomethane produced from trash, food scraps and animal waste.
Guerrini and his teammate Fabio Cofferati aim to show what a European family can achieve by traveling with a standard natural gas powered car. Thus, the 10,000 round trip kilometers will be traveled by a Seat Leon 1.5 TGI made available by Piccini Paolo Spa. It is equipped with its three original tanks for a total capacity of approximately 17.7 kg. The ViaMichelin website indicates a maximum distance of only 3,540 km to get to Rovaniemi in Finland from Sansepolcro in Italy. Guerrini explains the difference very well, pointing out, for example, that the outward journey was 4,620 km. He had to “conduct a veritable scavenger hunt for clean energy.” Significant detours were sometimes made to refuel with green gas every 350-400 km.
With the support of the Lombardy region, the European Bio-NGV Tour was officially launched from Milan, after the Sansepolcro pre-start. In total, the following countries were crossed: Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Austria.
