Europe needs to diversify the energy sources used for transport, in order to meet climate goals and to reduce its dependency on oil. Although there will be oil for several decades to come, future oil supply alone will not be able to provide for additional global demand, particularly in developing countries and regions. “This requires alternative fuels to come into the market, including natural gas and others,” the report states.

“Vehicles using methane represent a mature technology, available for all types of vehicles and methane pumps (CNG and L-CNG), are already well established in some Member States and benefited from public support already for the past years,” the document says. However, it warns about the lack of infrastructure density.

Therefore, the report highlights that market penetration of alternative fuels requires the build-up of the appropriate infrastructure, which should be in step with technology development and market penetration rates of vehicles. Different forms of public support are possible: pilot projects, standardization, investment support and legislation.

Source: European Commission/NGVA Europe.