JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #62 - January/February 2011 - 19

- The natural gas vehicle market..............................p19 - R&D manager: inside the innovation ...p23 - An historical overview of the Para-aramid fibres for composites ...............p24

trends THÈME

The natural gas vehicle market
Figures for the natural gas vehicle market indicate that, by the end of 2009, there were approximately 11.2 million natural gas vehicles on the world's roads and over 16,500 natural gas fuelling stations in operation. Compressed natural gas infrastructure is developing worldwide and natural gas technologies have made substantial progress since 1990.

Market

MUTHURAMALINGAM KRISHNAN GRUNTECH POLYMER CONSULTANTS

tatistical reports of the world’s energy varied significantly over the last decade. According to British Petroleum, there were sufficient oil reserves in 2004 to last another 43 years and natural gas reserves for another 68 years. The latest reports say the world has enough natural gas reserves for more than 100 years. This difference comes from new and focused research into available global reserves and the development of technologies that will make it possible to locate and harvest previously unavailable reserves.

Overall, there has been a growing demand for natural gas vehicles (NGV) worldwide. In the last nine years, growth in four of five major markets has clearly reflected this demand. Asia Pacific has seen a 51% increase; Europe, a 15.8% increase; Latin America, 23.5%; Africa, 19.2%; and North America, a 0.1% decrease. This translates to an average worldwide growth of 27.5% over the same nine years. The author’s analysis of global market

No62 January - February 2011 / jec composites magazine

usage, demand and available resources leads him to believe that crude oil reserves will be exhausted sooner than projected. To address this, world governments should invest more heavily in research and work in partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to boost natural gas usage as a transportation fuel. The chairman and CEO of Fiat and Chrysler underscore this belief with a recent statement saying that compressed natural gas (CNG) is “the only real and immediate alternative to petroleum”.

German market

Germany’s Automobile Association, ADAC, conducted a clean-drive technology marathon to determine the fuel consumption of various vehicles over a sixmonth period. Six different vehicles driven by 30 drivers were tested while carrying out normal daily driving routines. Overall, 107,000 km were driven during testing on trips to shops, kindergarten, on vacation, etc. The vehicles tested were the CNGfuelled VW Passat TSI EcoFuel, a Honda Insight 1.3i-DSI Hybrid (Mild-Hybrid), a Mercedes C250 CDI BlueEfficiency (LowDiesel), a Kia Cee’d SW 1.6 ISG (start-stop petrol), a Toyota Prius 8.1 Hybrid (full hybrid) and a Chevrolet Aveo 1.2 Ecologic (LPG). Erdgas-fahren reports that the VW Passat, with its 150-hp turbocharged engine, consumed just 5.0 kilograms of natural gas per 100 kilometres, for best

Market

http://www.jeccomposites.com/jec-forums/

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #62 - January/February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #62 - January/February 2011