As a result, Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) will be the first Colombian public utility to break into CNG refueling business. EPM general manager Juan Esteban Calle Restrepo said the company will become owner and operator of a new supply network to serve over 42,000 natural gas powered vehicles that are currently running over the department’s routes, which has 62 refueling stations already opened. He also made pledges to develop special funding programs such as awarding vouchers to facilitate the conversion of vehicles, as the company has been implementing over the last years.

"With this decision, we are giving strong support to sustainable mobility technologies, and under that theme we want to encourage the widespread use of CNG in both private and public transport fleets, as well as among private drivers, to set Antioquia as a leader in the use of clean fuels across the country," Calle Restrepo expressed.

Moreover, EPM has just begun to gradually promote the conversion of Medellín’s Municipal Administration fleet, whose vehicles were previously powered by diesel and gasoline. So far, 187 of them are fueled by CNG, and another 18 are in the conversion process.

Source: EPM.