In 1986, IANGV was founded at an international NGV conference in Vancouver. This followed a preliminary meeting in New Zealand attended by members of the NGV industry and an Australian gas industry executive. At that time New Zealand was a very strong NGV country with nearly 10% of its vehicles in the North Island running on natural gas.

The reasons why New Zealand sponsored the formation of IANGV and why the NZ Government assisted with funding are as valid today as then. For the NGV industry to be commercially viable, there needs to be a high level of participation by the vehicle manufacturers.

That is the single most important driver of the future NGV industry. The competition is the vehicle we have grown accustomed to over 100 years, the petrol or diesel vehicle. In the industrial world, our lives are hostage to the car. Our cities, particularly those in the OECD countries, are shaped by the car and other liquid fuelled vehicles. NGVs must offer the same or better performance, range and total cost as the ubiquitous competition. New Zealand has no vehicle manufacturing industry and hence is reliant on OEMs from Japan, Australia and Europe. With a market at that time of about 100,000 new vehicles per year, there was no leverage New Zealand could exert on vehicle manufacturers. But what about working with the Canadians, the Australians, the Indonesians and so on? Demand for NGVs from all those countries might make the vehicle manufacturers take notice.

That was the genesis of IANGV.

What then has been the outcome? How effective has internationalising been?

The exhibitions at NGV events provide the answer. Pride of place is normally taken by both heavy and light duty vehicle manufacturers.  At the first exhibition in Sydney in 1988, none of the OEMs had any product. All major vehicle manufacturers now have some sort of NGV ranging from prototype to short production runs. Almost all types of vehicle from cars to heavy trucks figure in exhibitions.

IANGV itself is a reflection of the need for international activity. IANGV has supported international development and growth by fostering those activities which require an international perspective. Standards and the international conference are two examples.

Today we have reached the following status:

1.    A wide range of OEM vehicles are available in small quantities. These vehicles have equal performance to liquid fuelled vehicles, and almost always will be better in regard to emissions. Range is usually less and capital cost more than the competition. There is hence still a way to go to match liquid fuelled vehicles.

2.    Refuelling stations provide high quality, safe refuelling. By and large, the technology of refuelling is mature.

3.    The economic cost of owning and operating an NGV can be less than for a conventional vehicle, provided fuel prices and taxes are sufficiently low. In most countries, this means that NGVs are fostered by lower taxes (direct or indirect) on the vehicle or the fuel.

4.    Standardisation and harmonization of standards offers the potential for cost reduction as well as safety. International standards have been prepared or are in preparation for most aspects of the NGV system including the vehicle and refuelling. Continuing effort by IANGV and others is needed to complete this vital work,

In addition, we have a strong international NGV association, regional associations in Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific plus national associations in many countries.  Amongst other things, these associations organize excellent conferences and exhibitions in many locations.  They provide technical and marketing support appropriate to their regions.

In 19 years much progress has been made. The emphasis is moving from the converted vehicle to OEMs. There is substantial commercial experience in implementing and growing an NGV industry to over 4 million vehicles around the world. NGVs can meet all the environmental requirements, often more easily than liquid fuelled vehicles.  Growth is occurring at that rapid pace.

This progress has been driven by Government support. There is no country in which NGVs compete on the “level playing field” with liquid fuelled vehicles.

There is much remaining to be accomplished before the NGV industry can truly be judged competitively mature. National NGV associations have heavy work programmes to support future development. IANGV has a continuing role in support of what is becoming a global industry of significant size.

In terms of progress over the last 19 years, much has been accomplished. However the industry is not yet viable and self sustaining. The objective over the next few years should be to reduce costs through innovation and efficiency and to increase volume to take advantage of economies of scale. An important target market in the short term should be vehicle fleets, especially gas utility fleets, because increased sales by vehicle manufactures into a well defined market will achieve economies of scale in production.

NGY2006 will be held in Cairo in November 2006. I hope that many success stories will be reported there. Petrol was king in the 20th century. The 21st century can be the century of the NGV.
 

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