Diego Goldin, NGV Global’s Executive Director was invited by KANGV (Korean Association for NGV), KOGAS and the Center for Environmentally Friendly Vehicle to take part in the 2013 “NGV Future Strategy Forum” hosted by KANGV and the 2013 International Symposium of Center for Environmentally Friendly Vehicles, hosted by the CEFV in South Korea. Both events had great turnout that showed the on-going support for the very successful Korean NGV program.
Korea currently has more than 30,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses in the country, and has embarked upon expansion projects that include research on hydrogen-enriched CNG (HCNG) buses and fueling stations, and the possibility of promoting CNG in light duty vehicles. Goldin’s visit is a clear sign of the cooperation between NGV Global and its member associations. We wish for the continuing success of the Korean NGV Program.
At the CEFV event, it was reported that under test conditions a converted CNG taxi had demonstrated engine power at least equal to that of an LPG taxi, with 10.2km/m3 of mileage. When measured against a comparable LPG taxi, the economic benefit from operating a CNG taxi was claimed to be USD 273 per month.
The difference was distinct in average fuel cost, where the CNG taxi showed USD 23/day (unit cost $0.93 per litre), whereas LPG taxi showed USD 34/day (unit cost $1.05 per litre).
Various measures were proposed to clear the obstacles holding up the promotion of CNG taxi conversion, including better information provision, cooperation with the taxi industry and changes to regulations to simplify vehicle inspections and expand CNG refueling infrastructure.
