GAZ, the leading Russian manufacturer of gas-fuelled commercial vehicles and one of the leading manufacturers in the LCV segment in Europe, presented a new modification of GAZelle NEXT fitted with the upgraded gas-gasoline engine EvoTech 3.0. The increase in the powertrain cubic capacity to 3 l (as compared with 2.7 l in the previous engine version – EvoTech 2.7) enabled to increase the power to 120 hp when driving on gasoline (on compressed gas – 109 hp), and the peak net torque - up to 252 Nm (225 Nm on the compressed gas). GAZelle NEXT CNG is presented at the 8th International Gas Forum, which is held in St. Petersburg on October 2-5, 2018.

An important design feature of the upgraded EvoTech 3.0 engine is the use of a cast iron cylinder block instead of the aluminium cylinder block installed on previous versions. This enabled to reduce the thermal load and increase the powertrain stability at high temperatures. The changes affected other components as well, including crankshaft and camshaft, cylinder head and piston. The new design provides for the possibility of installing a dual-circuit air-conditioning system for minibuses and two compressors for refrigerated vans.

Four gas cylinders with a total volume from 33.2 (all-metal van) up to 41.6 (side modifications) m3 are installed on the vehicle. Vehicle fuel distance - up to 750 km, including 300 km - gas-powered driving. The gas-cylinder equipment produced by the Italian companies Emer and OMVL is certified according to the UNECE Regulations No. 110. The multi-level engine safety system includes a high-speed valve (confines gas leakage in case of gas tube damage), a fire valve (provides for gas release when the temperature exceeds 100 °C), a safety valve (provides for gas release when the pressure exceeds 300 ATM).