Vaughan Gething MS, the Welsh Minister for Economy, has visited FuelActive, to see first-hand how the company’s clean fuel delivery system is reducing fuel consumption and cutting exhaust emissions for customers across the world.

Cardiff-based FuelActive has received extensive support from the Welsh Government, including the support of an Innovation Specialist who has provided advice and guidance on Intellectual Property, support for product Design and secured access to Welsh Government SMART Cymru and Innovate UK R&D funding. This support also enabled the business to access investment from the Development Bank for Wales as it continues to develop its advanced fuel saving devices for a wide variety of industry sectors.

Following last year’s COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, Mr Gething was keen to see how a Welsh technology company is already helping businesses across the world to reduce fuel use by up to 5% – which translates to approximately 20% of the recent fuel cost increases – and to cut carbon emissions from transport, construction, industrial and agricultural machinery. He was also able to take a closer look at a range of future technology developments at the company.

FuelActive’s patented unit replaces a standard fuel pick-up pipe, to ensure that only the cleanest fuel in the tank is used by an engine’s fuel injection system. A floating pick-up pipe is used to draw fuel from the upper level in the tank, leaving any water and sediment in the bottom. Burning only the cleanest fuel available, ensures the engine operates closest to the manufacturer’s design specification and is more reliable, with improved fuel consumption and reduced emissions.

A growing number of construction and mining companies across the world have opted for the clean fuel pick-up system, which requires less than an hour to install and requires no regular maintenance. On average, fuel savings of up to 5% have been possible, following extensive trials in a wide range of equipment and operating environments. This not only results in a significant cut in exhaust emissions, but reduces the risk of costly machine downtime, boosting productivity and performance for customers.

FuelActive is also increasingly serving the road transport community, both in passenger and goods haulage markets. North-West luxury coach company Anthony’s Travel recently agreed to install the FuelActive system across its entire fleet of coaches, following trials that saw the company saving fuel and reducing CO₂ emissions by up to 9.7-tonnes per vehicle. This will deliver fuel savings of up to £5,000 a year per vehicle and the company reports reduced downtime due to fuel contamination, benefitting travellers across the North-West.

National haulage and warehousing specialist Kinaxia Logistics has seen similar benefits, after fitting the FuelActive system to a number of HGV’s. With an average fuel saving of 4%, the company is predicting a saving of up to 1,400 litres of diesel per truck over a 12-month period. This will result in a 3.7-tonne cut in CO₂ emissions per vehicle each year.

Further afield, Australian construction and mining company Macmahon Holdings has conducted extensive tests of the FuelActive system, on a fleet of articulated dump trucks working in South East Asia. Trucks equipped with the FuelActive pick-up saw an average 3.4% fuel economy improvement, equating to an 18-tonne cut in CO₂ emissions for each truck over a year of operation. Equally importantly for the business, the FuelActive unit’s return on investment was 251% in year one.

“I was pleased to visit FuelActive to see for myself how the company’s clean fuel delivery system is benefiting customers across the world,” said Mr Gething.

“FuelActive has received extensive business, innovation and export support from the Welsh Government and Development Bank of Wales to get to where they are today. It was great to see the positive outcomes they’ve been able to deliver already in terms of creating jobs through the development and export of a truly innovative made-in-Wales technology.

“This will help grow our economy while also having a positive impact on reducing the impact of climate change on our planet.”

“We were delighted to welcome the Minister today, to demonstrate how our technology is saving fuel and cutting harmful emissions for companies across the world,” said FuelActive CEO Nick Massey.

“It was very clear at last year’s COP26, that we all need to do everything that we can to reduce emissions, in every sector of business, right across the world. Consumers are all too aware of the rising cost of fuel in their own tank and businesses across the globe are searching for solutions to reduce operating costs, as well as cutting harmful carbon emissions.

“We at FuelActive are happy to be playing our part in the move to a low carbon economy and we have a number of innovations in the pipeline that will drive this focus further.”