2008 October | NGV Global

Monthly Archives: October 2008

German Motor Vehicle Tax to be Amended to Reward Reduced CO2

October 30, 2008 – 2:00 pm

Germany

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has announced that â€œenvironmentally friendly vehiclesâ€ are to be exempted from German motor vehicle taxes. Currently, Germany taxes vehicles based on the size of the engine.Â For example, the tax on a two-liter diesel is the Euro-equivalent of about $400 per year.Â Under the new system, which may go into effect as early as January 1, 2009, vehicle taxes will be based on CO2 production instead.Â All newly registered cars meeting the Euro 4 emission standard will be exempt from the motor vehicle tax for one year.Â New models meeting the tighter Euro 5 standard will be exempt for two years.Â How vehicles will be treated that meet the future Euro 6 standard has not yet been announced.Â But according to NGVA Europeâ€™s General Manager, Manuel Lage, â€œNGVs will easily meet this target, so it will be interesting to see how the Germans will treat NGVs in the future.â€

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NGV Communications Group Marks 20 Years

October 30, 2008 – 2:00 pm

Publishers and exhibition organizers, NGV Communications Group has passed another milestone this month, celebrating their 20th year of operations. Commencing in Argentina 20 years ago with the publication of Taximania, founders Luis Pompa and Claudio Kohan, soon changed the name to Prensa Vehicular, broadening their target to general motorists. With Argentina’s motorists showing favour towards natural gas vehicles, the group focussed on this area, now with six print magazines, a daily news and statistics website and the organization of more than 20 international events under their belt. The group also has a long standing relationship with the IANGV, including publication of a regular column in their GVR magazine and as an organiser of IANGV exhibitions. See their website for more information.

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WMATA’s CNG Fleet Expands with 22 60-Footers

October 30, 2008 – 2:00 pm

NABI 60ft BRT - CNG Powered USA

22 new 60-foot BRTs, powered by clean compressed natural gas (CNG) powerplants, have been delivered to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WAMTA) by North American Bus Industries (NABI). â€œIt was time for us to move away from the â€˜breadboxâ€™ design of our current model buses,â€ said WMATA General Manager John Catoe. The 22 new BRTs will go into service October 27, carrying customers on a bus line in the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland.Â Bill Coryell, NABI VP for Sales, said it was important for WMATA to replace older diesel articulated buses with these new CNG-powered models, having had very good success with its CNG vehicles.â€ The 22 new BRTs, powered by Cummins-Westport engines will bring WMATAâ€™s number of CNG buses to 461 vehicles, which represents just under a third of its operating fleet.

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John Stephenson â€“ A Tribute

October 29, 2008 – 2:39 pm


	John Stephenson (3rd from Right) with members of the IANGV Executive Committee in Sweden 1992.

As announced in NGV Global last week, it is with great sadness that we record our friend John Stephenson has just passed away at age 87.

I had known John since the late 1970s when we both had offices in the School of Engineering at the University of Auckland. The CNG program in New Zealand was just commencing, driven strongly by the New Zealand Government. It was clear that an important element for successful implementation of CNG in New Zealand was going to be the availability of expertise which could deal with issues that were bound to arise when people tried to convert engines and fuel systems designed to run on petrol to run on natural gas instead. Thus the New Zealand Energy Research and Development Committee decided it would fund the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Auckland to establish a facility which would have the equipment needed to undertake experiments on engines and vehicles and the expertise to deal with the technical issues which would arise in the nascent NGV industry.

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UK Stakeholders Welcome Biomethane Injection to Grid

October 29, 2008 – 2:00 pm

UK, London

Amendments to legislation in the UK will lead to the injection of renewable biomethane into the UK gas grid. Industry provider CNG Services, has issued a press release welcoming the decision of the Government saying that it will launch a â€˜green gasâ€™ economy by rewarding the high efficiency uses of injecting renewable methane into the UK gas grid. The Government had already announced support for the two main ways to produce renewable methane, from anaerobic digesters and from gasification of organic waste.Â However, developers have found that generation of electricity from this gas is often inefficient because there is not enough local use for the waste heat that arises from making electricity, particularly in summer.

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EKC Opens Cylinder Manufacturing Plant in China

October 29, 2008 – 2:00 pm

EKC China Plant India & China

Mumbai based CNG cylinder manufacturer Everest Kanto Cylinder (EKC) has commenced manufacture in a fourth country, adding a plant China to three already in operation in India and one in Dubai & the US. The $US25 million plant was built in Tianjin and has a capacity of 200,000 CNG cylinders per annum as well as 3,000 for tube trailer applications. The tube trailer business for EKC received a boost this year with the purchase of US based CP Industries which EKC Director Puneet Khurana says has given EKC a big advantage in the segment in Asia and China. Khurana says the new plant can currently produce Type 1 cylinders from 20 litre to 3000 litre capacity with Type 2 cylinder production expected to commence in 2009.

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Burrtec Waste Selects ALT to Supply LNG to Second Location

October 28, 2008 – 2:03 pm

USA, California

Applied LNG Technologies USA, LLC (ALT), has obtained supply agreements for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fueling equipment to Burrtec Waste and Recycling Services for their fleet of 18 LNG refuse haulers used for residential, municipal, industrial and commercial waste management services at their Palm Desert, California location.

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Australian Govt Launches 2nd Generation Biofuels R&D Program

October 28, 2008 – 2:00 pm

Australia, Canberra

Australia’s Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, has launched a Government backed $15 million Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Program. Businesses and institutions researching second generation biofuels are now able to apply for grants of between $1 million and $5 million. Second generation biofuels use fuel stocks such as biomass and algae (rather than grain or other livestock feed) and will allow the industry to move beyond the ‘food versus fuel’ debate.

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Natural Gas Vehicles for Oklahoma University and San Bernadino City

October 27, 2008 – 2:15 pm

USA

Natural Gas Conversion planned for Chevrolet Impala by OSU Chevrolet Impala CNG Conversions for Oklahoma State University
San Bernadino City Gets LNG Refuse Vehicles

Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Oklahoma) plans to buy 10 compressed natural gas fuelled Chevrolet Impalas for the schoolâ€™s motor pool at a cost of about $160,500. OSU transportation services manager Chris Hoffman says an original equipment manufacturer in Oklahoma will perform the CNG conversion on the vehicles. President Burns Hargis has said OSU plans to build a CNG fueling station on its Stillwater campus. OSU is also considering buying CNG-powered buses. Earlier, Hargis said that OSU is in the process of converting its entire fleet to CNG vehicles.

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Natural Gas-Fueled Freightliner M2 112 To Replace Sterling in US

October 26, 2008 – 2:00 pm

USA

Daimler in the United States will replace its new natural gas-fueled Class 8 truck from Sterling with a compressed natural gas-fueled truck based on the Freightliner M2 112 chassis.Â â€œThe Sterling brand is going to go away but Freightliner is going to fast track the natural gas product on the M2 112 chassis,â€ Sterlingâ€™s western regional GM Bob Carrick told Fleets & Fuels last week. â€œIâ€™m pushing very very hard so we donâ€™t lose the momentum we have with natural gas,â€ he says. Daimler product marketing GM Mike Jackson said at this monthâ€™s Southern California Clean Vehicle Technology Expo that the new Freightliner will initially be fueled with CNG. The LNG Sterling will be available through the first quarter of 2009 and will be fully supported for at least a decade. More information Fleets and Fuels.

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Proton Persona Launched in Thailand With Pre-Installed CNG

October 26, 2008 – 2:00 pm

Thailand Proton Persona CNG Launched , Bangkok

A compressed natural gas (CNG) model of the Proton Persona was launched in Thailand earlier this month by Phranakorn Auto Sales, the distributor for Proton cars in Thailand. The Campro IAFM engine in the Persona CNG can take either CNG, regular petrol, or an E20 ethanol-petrol mix. Proton reportedly aims to sell 500 units a month. A Phranakorn executive is reported as saying this is the first Persona model to be fitted with pre-installed CNG kits and was likely to attract car buyers looking for energy-saving models due to the current high oil price.

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NGVAmerica Comments on CARB GHG Report

October 23, 2008 – 2:00 pm

USA

NGVAmerica has submitted comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on its analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions benefits of natural gas compared with diesel fuel. The analysis was released in August with little notice and with limited documentation. The work is intended to support California’s low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS). The focus, which is on light-duty and heavy-duty fuel use, includes an evaluation of a number of different natural gas pathways. Several of the evaluated pathways provide significant reductions (20 – 30%) in greenhouse gas emissions relative to diesel fuel. However, the benefits of natural gas are reduced and, in some cases nullified, in the pathways that assume natural gas is imported from the Middle East or Asia as LNG.

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Seventh Coal Bed Methane CNG Station Opens in West Bengal

October 23, 2008 – 2:00 pm

India, Kolkata

The opening of its latest compressed natural gas (CNG) station in Asansol by Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL), makes it their seventh coal bed methane CNG station now in operation. The company has already signed a franchisee agreement for supply and retail of CNG through Indian Oil Corporationâ€™s (IOC) petrol pumps in Asansol, Durgapur, Raniganj and other cities across the state. Four of the CNG stations are mother stations and three are daughter stations. (Full article)

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Former IANGV Treasurer John Stephenson Passes Away

October 22, 2008 – 5:16 am

New Zealand, Auckland

It is with great sadness that we report the death of former IANGV Treasurer, John Stephenson, in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this week. John contributed greatly to IANGV including all the editions of our widely used Position Paper in the 1990s. NGV Global will carry a tribute to John in next week’s issue. Readers wishing to send condolences to his family is welcome to send a message via email to admin@iangv.org and we will forward to the family.