As a vehicle fuel, LNG (liquefied natural gas) has advantages over traditional fuel oil, such as high octane number, good anti-knock performance, low engine wear and tear, low fuel cost, and good environmental protection performance. Therefore, in foreign countries, the research and application of LNG commercial vehicles have been vigorously promoted for a long time.

It is mostly used in the field of commercial vehicles

Take the United States and Germany as examples. The promotion of LNG vehicles has been going on for many years. It is understood that currently, the LNG vehicles in operation are mainly commercial vehicles, such as urban buses, urban engineering vehicles, sanitation vehicles, and logistics transportation companies. This is primarily because commercial vehicles have a large volume of transportation, a high utilization rate, and the price of natural gas is relatively cheaper than that of fuel. Secondly, LNG vehicles have lower pollution emissions. Compared with the large amount of particulate matter emitted and noise pollution caused by diesel engines, LNG vehicles cause less pollution.

In the United States, currently, the most widely used LNG vehicles are logistics vehicles. In the promotion of medium and short-distance heavy-duty trucks, LNG vehicles mainly adopt the method of single gas cylinders longitudinally placed on both sides of the frame. They can either choose the ignition combustion method or the HPDI hybrid compression ignition method (similar to diesel engines). For instance, the majority of the medium and short-distance vehicles used by UPS Logistics Group are of the HPDI type. This diesel, as a control type for pre-ignition compression ignition and ignition of natural gas, is gradually being recognized by developed countries. As early as 2011, UPS purchased 48 LNG trucks and put them into operation at its company in Lake Ontario, California. Meanwhile, the New York City Transportation Authority also operates natural gas buses. And the telecommunications enterprise Verizon Communications Inc. And AT&T Inc. is also using gas-powered vans.

In Germany, the large logistics company Hellmann Logistics began to trial heavy-duty trucks fueled by LNG in the autumn of 2012 and carried out road transportation for four weeks. Since then, LNG trucks have also opened up the market for German LNG logistics suppliers.

Road tests have shown that LNG trucks can perform their tasks well. Rene Stocker, the person in charge of Hanhong Logistics, said that the trial use has proved that compared with diesel vehicles, LNG vehicles can significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, while the emissions of other harmful substances (such as carbon particles and nitric oxide, etc.) can almost be ignored.

Natural gas trucks have become a new development trend worldwide. Compared with traditional diesel trucks, natural gas trucks are more environmentally friendly, have lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower operating noise. Although their prices are higher than those of diesel trucks, in the long run, the advantages of natural gas trucks will become increasingly obvious in today's context of rising oil prices.

Apart from the United States and Germany, the development of natural gas vehicles in countries such as France, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal is also mainly focused on commercial vehicles, including buses, logistics transport vehicles and garbage transport vehicles, etc.

Policy guarantees for the promotion of LNG vehicles

Similar to our country, promoting natural gas vehicles through policy support is also one of the measures adopted by some countries. For instance, the aim is to promote LNG vehicles by reducing taxes and fees and providing subsidies. In Sweden, the road tax paid for natural gas vehicles is approximately 3,000 kronor (about 2,862 yuan) lower than that for diesel vehicles. In Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, from 6:30 to 18:30 from Monday to Friday, every vehicle entering or leaving the city has to pay a traffic jam fee. However, energy-saving and environmentally friendly vehicles such as natural gas vehicles are exempt from the traffic jam fee. Each environmentally friendly vehicle can save up to about 14,400 kronor per year. In Pakistan, the customs exempts all imported natural gas equipment, vehicles and modified parts from tax, and the tax authorities also exempt natural gas vehicles from sales tax. In Bangladesh, the introduction of equipment for gas filling stations, modified parts, and complete natural gas vehicles all enjoy tax exemption policies. Moreover, banks and leasing companies can provide loan support for the modification of natural gas vehicles. The Asian Development Bank once helped Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, purchase 10,000 sets of natural gas vehicle modification parts and vehicle gas cylinders at one time. In Thailand, not only does it offer preferential tax policies for natural gas original vehicles, engines and modified parts, with the tax rate first dropping from 40% to 20% and eventually to 0%, but also for each natural gas vehicle modified by an individual, the Thai government will provide a subsidy of 10,000 Thai baht (approximately 2,122 yuan).

In the process of developing natural gas vehicles, Croatia has made new explorations in organizational forms, providing references for other countries. In 2009, Croatia established the "Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Financing Institution". After its establishment, the institution mainly promoted the development of the clean energy vehicle industry through two measures. One is to enhance the application of alternative fuels and fuel cells in the passenger and freight transportation system by managing bridge tolls, traffic congestion fees, controlling the transportation of goods within the city and the construction of urban transportation facilities, thereby promoting the development of clean vehicle projects. LNG and CNG vehicles are given priority for application in commercial, public transportation services, taxis, driving schools and public service companies. Support the construction of new LNG and CNG refueling stations through financial means. Another one is to carry out the "Transport Plan for Reducing Environmental Quality Impact" through cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans, Transport and Infrastructure, as well as the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Enterprise. The main task of this plan is to replace buses, trucks and school buses that fail to meet environmental protection standards, and provide a subsidy of 50,000 kuna (about 6,750 euros) for each vehicle through financing institutions.

The small number of gas filling stations restricts the application of LNG vehicles

Just like in our country, the insufficient construction of refueling stations is an important factor restricting the development of LNG vehicles. The United States is the world's second-largest producer of natural gas. Research and development of LNG technology emerged as early as the 1930s. However, according to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of 2009, there were only 110,000 natural gas vehicles in operation in the United States. The United States has abundant resources and advanced technology, but it has not widely applied LNG vehicles. This is not unrelated to the fact that there are only 66 LNG refueling stations distributed across 10 states throughout the country.

A spokesperson for a foreign engine company said that the petroleum fuel in use has a network of gas stations spanning continents, and so does natural gas, but it enters people's homes and the power industry through pipelines. The current challenge lies in establishing a ubiquitous network form similar to that of diesel stations. UPS spokesperson Carla Gerhart? Ross has also stated that converting 1,000 of the approximately 17,000 heavy-duty trucks owned by UPS to LNG trucks is their long-term goal. The current failure to achieve this goal is merely due to "limitations at refueling stations".

It is understood that ENN Group, one of the largest private energy enterprises in China, is making vigorous efforts to promote the infrastructure construction of heavy-duty trucks powered by natural gas in the United States. The background of this is that the abundant natural gas resources in the local area will help the US transportation industry break away from the situation of relying on imported crude oil to refine diesel. A relevant person in charge of ENN Group recently stated that the group has indeed started to build LNG refueling stations in the United States. However, in a new market and new field, there will be various variables in its development process. So this year's goal is to build 50 LNG refueling stations.

It is worth noting that Clean Energy, the largest provider of transportation natural gas in the United States, is also building an "American Natural Gas Highway" project. It will construct 150 LNG truck refueling stations on major transportation arteries in the United States and plans to enter the entire downstream industrial chain of natural gas vehicles. That is, the gas station, transportation, taxi, airport transportation and municipal vehicle markets.

In fact, the majority of natural gas vehicles on the roads in the United States belong to government or corporate fleets that have centralized refueling stations. In a report in July 2010, a certain investment analysis institution in the United States mentioned a decision made by American automakers such as General Motors to offer natural gas-powered vehicles in their domestic market. American natural gas suppliers will also provide support to help enterprises convert their fleets of vehicles to natural gas vehicles and build natural gas refueling stations.

Although the price of natural gas is low, the total cost of building an LNG refueling station in the United States is not low, or is comparable to that in China. Some market insiders say that the cost of each gas filling station in the United States is about 1 million US dollars (approximately 6.22 million yuan), while the cost of building a station in China is about several million yuan. Jiang Yu, the head of international business at ENN Group, pointed out that the prices for building gas filling stations in different parts of the United States vary significantly. Generally speaking, the costs are still higher than those in China. For instance, the expenses for purchasing local equipment, hiring local personnel, and engaging local companies for design are all higher than those in China.

Under the premise of making use of its abundant natural gas resources and advanced natural gas technology, Germany has promoted the application of LNG vehicles within the country by accelerating the construction of LNG refueling stations. It can be said that the development of gas vehicles in Germany is mainly attributed to the highly close cooperation among stakeholders such as gas companies, the government and car manufacturers. Data as of the end of 2010 shows that Germany has become the country with the largest number of natural gas refueling stations in Europe, reaching 900, and there are approximately 91,500 natural gas vehicles, mainly concentrated in urban heavy vehicles, including buses and garbage transport vehicles.

(Source: Internet)