FCA road tests a biogas-fuelled Fiat Panda

Italy-based FCA Research Centre has announced that it is testing the use of sewage-based biomethane in a Fiat Panda car.

The road test will take several months over 80,000km.

The car was delivered to the Cap Group, a company managing water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment for the Metropolitan City of Milan, to assess - with the participation of the FCA Research Centre - the effects of biomethane produced by the Milanese company on the car’s engine.

The Panda will be fuelled with biomethane produced by sewage treated at the Niguarda-Bresso plant (province of Milan), where the Cap Group is transforming its treatment installations into biorefineries capable of producing wealth from wastewater.

Based on studies by the Cap group, which aims in the near future to open the first filling station in the Milan area selling locally sourced biomethane, it is estimated that the Bresso plant alone could produce nearly 342,000 kilos of biomethane - enough to fuel 416 vehicles to travel 20,000 kilometres a year.