USA, San Francisco
Making the transition from market niche to market share dominated
proceedings on the final day of the 23rd US National NGV conference in
San Francisco last week. With vehicles, conversions, storage and
refuelling infrastructure now proven technologies, ‘spreading the word’
is the primary challenge. In a stimulating morning session, delegates
heard the approach being taken by a variety of businesses, including
speakers representing Honda, Cummins Westport, Fuelmaker and Clean
Energy Fuels.
Adding Value
Leading the charge, Elizabeth Munger, AFV Consultant (The Green
Group) and marketing consultant to Honda America, compared the state of
the industry to that of the cellular phone industry in its infancy
almost 20 years ago. What was then expensive, complicated and
heavy technology has evolved to the point where almost everyone has a
cell phone in their pockets.
“NGVs have similar issues,” Munger said. Speaking of the natural
gas Honda Civic GX , Unger said, “You can’t travel as far, trunk
space is limited, it’s difficult to find fuel, and you have to pay more
to buy the vehicle." According to Munger, the key to combating these
hurdles is to ‘add value’.
Exploiting the value of time, Munger and the Honda America team have
marketed the time-saving benefits of the Honda Civic GX, both through
the use of car pooling lanes in California and the availability of home
refuelling units.
Stephen Ellis, AFV manager of Honda America, says the adding value
approach is paying dividends, with Honda reaching most annual sales
targets since the launch of the natural gas GX in 1999.
Encouraging all sectors of the industry to take a lateral approach,
Munger also said a key factor to remember was that at this stage, NGVs
aren’t appropriate for everyone and advised delegates to target markets
and end users that ‘make sense’.
Building on this theme, a series of presentations that followed
highlighted the diverse range of applications were NGVs do make sense.
Biomethane – Even More Sense
Also making sense was honoured guest of the day, Swedish Environment
Minister, Lena Sommestadt, who also presented to policymakers in
Washington, DC and Sacramento during the week.
Sommestadt outlined Sweden’s enviable biomethane programs, now
supplying 45% of Sweden’s natural gas for vehicles. The
achievements in Sweden are even more remarkable given the fact that
only a small portion of the country is covered by a pipeline
network. The biomethane projects enable NGV operations away from
the pipeline and add value to organic matter which previously
contributed to global warming.
Sommestadt also said that pending legislation in Sweden, compelling
service station owners to dispense alternative fuels would include
balancing measures to ensure that owners weren’t penalised if they
chose CNG dispensers over other fuels.
Award Winners
Concluding the conference, CVEF and NGVC honored stakeholders with the
13th Annual NGV Achievement Awards. Dominated by Clean
Cities coordinators, directors and staff, the awards were timely,
pre-empting celebrations this week marking 1 billion gallons of
gasoline displacement in the US as a result of Clean Cities transport
programs.
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