IGU publishes its latest report on NGVs

The average rate of the world NGV fleet growth reached 15% in the last decade of the past century, and 26% in the 21st century. The world gas consumption in transport is expected to increase from 20 bcm in 2010 up to 40-45 bcm in 2030. The coming decades will show the dramatic growth of use of liquefied natural gas and liquefied biomethane.

In the European Union natural gas consumption is expected to increase by around 16% by 2030. Despite the great environmental benefits of natural gas/biomethane as a fuel and a constantly growing CNG & LNG vehicle portfolio, the market share of NGVs is still comparably small, currently 0.4% of the total running park, which equals around 1 million units. In accordance with NGVA Europe’s position the report stresses that EU emission reduction targets, especially the reduction of CO2, is the main driver to boost the European NGV market. “A market share of 20% of natural gas in transport fuels would allow a 5% reduction of the CO₂ emissions from all European vehicles. Assuming that 20% of the gas used would be made up of biomethane, the CO₂ reduction would increase to 7%”, the document states.

As also pointed out by NGVA Europe further emphasis has to be put on the need to establish a Minimum infrastructure for Methane (NG/biomethane) refuelling across Europe, which remains the bottleneck for the uptake of gaseous fuels. In this context European projects such as the GasHighWay and the Blue Corridor help to “increase the general awareness of target groups in the use of natural gas vehicles (NGVs), increase the supply of NG/biomethane by boosting the investments in distribution systems for these alternative fuels and in biogas production and biogas upgrading to enhance NGVs demand”, the report states. Improving and harmonising the legislative/regulatory environment, expanding incentives for investors and the further development of the NGV diversity are additional measures mentioned, suited to increase the market share of NGVs in the EU and worldwide.

The document was created by IGU Study Group 5.3 in cooperation with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) Working Party on Gas and investigates the recent global developments regarding methane powered vehicles in the period from 2009 to 2012. A total of 61 experts from 24 countries have contributed to the paper. NGVA Europe has been involved deeply in this joint effort, providing two of the publication’s chapters.

Source: IGU, UN ECE Working Party on Gas, NGVA Europe.