FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2008, file photo, Garvin Cui fuels up his natural gas vehicle at a Clean ... [+]
In the mid-1990s, I gathered with reporters at the National Press Club to hear T. Boone Pickens’ vision for natural gas and how it would impact the transportation sector. At the time, he was a one-man show who said that the fuel would be a healthy substitute for petroleum that was dirtier and more expensive.
Twenty-five years later, however, electric vehicles are leading the pack — primarily a function of incentives laid out during the Obama administration and ones that sought to reduce the level of harmful emissions, including CO2. But natural-gas vehicles have their place in the American economy and mainly among heavy-duty carriers such as delivery trucks and transit buses. Globally, though, natural gas has a more expansive role in the passenger car market.
And with the change in presidents coming up on January 20, 2021, the Natural Gas Vehicles for America says that the time is ripe to bring its cause to the fore: the goal is to reduce the level of tailpipe emissions in an immediate and cost-effective manner. To this end, the association says that natural gas-powered trucks are now on the road and that they are producing positive environmental results.
“Anytime there is a change in presidential administrations or either chamber of Congress, it is a huge opportunity to inform policymakers that there are economic ways to improve energy efficiency, air quality, and climate change,” says Dan Gage, president of the Natural Gas Vehicles for America. “A Biden administration will take on this challenge and look at how it can be achieved. Natural-gas vehicles can be a positive change today. They are a cheaper alternative with a better emissions reduction outcome. They are also commercially scalable.
“The new administration needs to look to the problem and not mandate a particular technology,” he told this writer. “Why wait? You can have zero emissions now. Look at what is in the market. Look at what is affordable. If we can get that message to the Biden administration, we will be effective. People want to address climate and air quality and they want it to be a balanced situation.”
About 175,000 natural-gas vehicles are in the United States while 23 million exist worldwide. Roughly 2,000 natural-gas fueling stations are here — not on major thoroughfares but on corporate premises at the likes of FedEx
Cleaner Results
AUSTIN, TX - APRIL 22: Harvey Smith, Supervisor of AMPCO, the bus service for the Austin-Bergstrom ... [+]
While driving through the country of Ukraine, I saw that nearly every gasoline station also markets natural gas — for a price that is notably less than petroleum. Car owners are switching over using a “modifier.” But the Ukrainian government is dissuading people from making that conversion, saying that such cars are more dangerous because if they wreck, they might explode.
Gage is quick to distinguish between the “aftermarket” conversions and the companies like Westport Fuel that work directly with the original equipment manufacturers: Ford Motor Co.
“Everything comes down to what we put into the air. Carbon is where we can get it right or wrong,” adds Carlton Rose, president of the global fleet at UPS. “UPS wants to be part of the solution. And we should be.” Almost daily, he notes, 6% of everything manufactured in this country and 3% of everything produced in the world moves through the UPS network.
To be clear, liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is best used with heavy-duty trucks while compressed natural gas, or CNG, is used to power passenger vehicles and corporate fleets. About 20% of public transit buses in this country now run on CNG, and trucks hold potential for greater LNG use.
As for UPS, it has CNG vehicles in at least 16 states. It says that it has invested $750 million into alternatively-fueled vehicles and advanced technology vehicles since 2009. But it is also eying all-electric trucks.
Natural gas has a mixture of gases that contains propane, which is also used in the transportation sector. The purpose of both natural gas and propane is to reduce emissions, says Tucker Perkins, chief executive of the Propane Education and Research Council, in an interview. The natural-gas infrastructure is more extensive, albeit more expensive — and used more for garbage trucks, he says. Propane, though, has more energy density and it used more for shuttle buses.
“Natural gas and propane have shared characteristics and each is a much cleaner fuel than diesel or gas,” he explains. “To use natural gas, you have to be close to the natural gas main and it requires a good electrical system to move it.
“Propane moves as an energy-dense fluid and it does not take a lot of energy to get it from the tank to the vehicle,” he continues. “The infrastructure is cheaper and it is easier to adopt” — meaning that it will play a bigger role in the transport sector.
While electric vehicles have the inside track right now, other alternatively-fueled cars and trucks are close behind. And natural-gas vehicle makers think they have a good shot to make more inroads among heavy-duty trucks and transit buses. The next step, though, is to get the ear of the incoming Biden administration so that it, too, can get aboard.
