At the 2014 Preliminary Accountability Hearing organized by the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, Hernán Vega, general director of the Executing Agency for Natural Gas Vehicles Conversion (EEC-GNV) informed that the number of vehicles converted to CNG free of charge amounts to 92,481 from 2011 to date.
The public transport fleet registers more than 80% of its vehicles using this fuel. The kit, cylinder, and payment to the authorized conversion center are fully funded by State resources through the hydrocarbons nationalization program.
The EEC-GNV general director said the “the energy grid change has to be sustainable over the time, so the agency has been developing the Cylinder Upgrading / Replacement Program which services CNG tanks every five years; if there is a defect in the equipement, it will be replaced with a new one for free.” The goal for this year is to upgrade/replace more than 8,000 cylinders.
What is more, the EEC-GNV is conducting the Pilot Program of Conversion from diesel to CNG benefiting 200 buses (so far, 93 vehicles have been converted to operate 100% on natural gas). This allows the Bolivian State to save more than US$ 2 million a year in subsidies to diesel.
Source: EEC-GNV.
