Natural gas vehicles gaining in popularity in Germany
Diesel engines are still king on German roads with almost half of all new vehicle sales thanks in large part to their thirty percent fuel economy advantage in a land of $6-7 a gallon gasoline. Vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas still hold a minuscule share but the numbers are growing. In 2006, the number of CNG vehicles on the road in Germany jumped by forty percent to 54,772 registered vehicles. The lower fuel cost gives them a fifty percent cost advantage over gasoline engines and thirty percent compared to diesels. Unfortunately, refueling stations are still in short supply in Germany, so you may want something like the Phill to fuel up at home.
[Source: Just-Auto.com - Sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 10:07AM (4/12/2007)
CNG engines in passenger cars tend to be retrofitted gasoline engines with port fuel injection. Since gas takes up more volume in the intake manifold than liquid fuel, it displaces frsh charge. This leads to reduced rated torque and power for the engine. Add to that the substantial extra weight of the CNG tanks and you end up with vehicles that are clean and cheap to run but perform rather poorly. Most of the natural gas vehicles on Germany's roads are light duty commercial vans.
You can compensate by adding a boost system (e.g. turbocharger) but that usually requires a stronger engine block and cranktrain, an intercooler and other extensive modifications to work properly. The other option would be direct natural gas injection but that is not yet ready for series production.
Phill stations are available in France and soon will be in Italy and Poland. I'm assuming authorities in other EU countries have not yet given the required safety approvals and/or the company does not yet have a network of certified technicians. Another complication is that few apartments in European cities come with a garage, so you'd have to get creative about where to put the device and how to ensure only authorized individuals are able to use it.
Reply
Alexandre Souza 10:53AM (4/13/2007)
In Brazil it is very common to have natural compressed gas vehicles. There are no phew stations but almost all gas stations now have gas pumps. The car has 10% less power but the price is SO lower. This is a nice tradeoff for the ones who are not "semaphore racers" or like. For the one who needs to run 100-150km/day, the power tradeoff simply does not exists. It is way cheaper (and greener!!!) to run on gas.
Reply