In the Czech Republic, there are already 52 public CNG filling stations in operation (January 2014). At least 45 new fueling sites will be in service by the end of 2014 (E.ON plans to open 12-14 filling stations, Vemex at least 10, Vítkovice intends to build more than 20 and RWE plans to open three, etc.). The objectives of the EU direction draft about the installation of infrastructure for alternative fuels focused on CNG have already been fulfilled in the Czech Republic.
Czech transport companies tend to buy CNG buses more often which saves them tens of millions of CZ Koruna (CZK) per year. The Czech Ministry of the Environment announced a large subsidy totaling 1 billion CZK destined for 3 Czech regions (part of the operational program “Environment”) to replace the oldest buses (emitting the most emissions) with new environment-friendly CNG buses. This subvention also supports the construction of new CNG filling stations. The Czech Gas Association welcomes this subvention which will cover up to 85% of the actual price.
Based on ACEA data, the number of manufactured cars in Europe has been decreasing for 6 years in a row now. Nevertheless, the number of manufactured CNG vehicles in Europe has been continuously rising over this period. Nowadays, there are already 1,85 million CNG-powered cars registered in Europe. And Czech Republic is no exception – the number of registered CNG vehicles is on the increase here too. NGVs are bought by important Czech companies such as Česká pošta (Czech Post), Hasičské záchranné sbory (Czech Fire Service) and the Městská Policie (Municipal Police), while other firms buy CNG fork-lift trucks for their warehouses, etc.
Source: Czech Gas Association.
