As a vehicle fuel, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) has the advantages of high octane number, good antiknock performance, low engine loss, low fuel cost, and good environmental performance compared with conventional fuel oil. Therefore, in foreign countries, the development and application of LNG commercial vehicles have been promoted very early.

Used in commercial vehicles

In the United States and Germany, for example, the promotion of LNG vehicles has been going on for many years. It is understood that currently operating LNG vehicles are mainly commercial vehicles, such as urban public transport, urban engineering vehicles, sanitation vehicles, logistics and transportation companies. This is first of all because commercial vehicles have a large volume of transportation, high usage rates, and natural gas prices are cheaper than fuel. Second, LNG vehicles have smaller pollution emissions. LNG vehicles are less polluting than the large amount of particulate matter emitted by diesel engines and the resulting noise pollution.

In the United States, the most used LNG models are logistics vehicles. In the promotion of the use of medium and short-duty heavy trucks, LNG vehicles mainly use single cylinders on both sides of the frame, and can choose the ignition method. You can also choose HPDI's hybrid compression ignition method (similar to diesel engines). For example, most of the medium and short-haul vehicles used by UPS Logistics Group adopt the HPDI type. This type of diesel is gradually recognized by developed countries as a type of control for pre-combustion compression ignition and ignition of natural gas. As early as 2011, UPS purchased 48 vehicles. LNG trucks are also being invested in companies in Lake Ontario, California. At the same time, the City Transport Department in New York also operates natural gas buses. Telecom companies Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. are also using gas-powered trucks.

In Germany, a large logistics company, Hellmann Logistics, began testing LNG-fueled heavy trucks in the fall of 2012 and carried out a four-week road transport. Since then, LNG trucks have also opened up the market for German LNG logistics providers.

Road tests have shown that LNG trucks can do a good job. René Stocker, head of Hanhong Logistics, said that the trials prove that LNG vehicles can reduce carbon dioxide emissions to a large extent compared to diesel vehicles, while other harmful substances (such as carbon) Emissions of particulates and substances such as nitric oxide are almost negligible.

Natural gas trucks have become a new trend in the world. Compared with traditional diesel trucks, natural gas trucks are more environmentally friendly, have lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower operating noise. Although the price will be higher than diesel trucks, in the long run. In view of this, the advantages of natural gas trucks will become more and more obvious today as oil prices rise.

In addition to the United States and Germany, the development of natural gas vehicles in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal is also concentrated on commercial vehicles, including buses, logistics vehicles and garbage trucks.

Policy guarantee LNG car promotion

Similar to China, the promotion of natural gas vehicles through policy support is also one of the means of some countries. For example, through the reduction of taxes and fees and the provision of subsidies to achieve the purpose of promoting LNG vehicles. In Sweden, natural gas vehicles pay a road tax of about 3,000 krona (about 2,862 yuan) lower than diesel vehicles. In Stockholm, Sweden, from Monday to Friday from 6:30 to 18:30, every vehicle entering and leaving the city is subject to a traffic jam, but energy-saving and environmentally-friendly vehicles such as natural gas vehicles are exempt from traffic jams. Save up to approximately 14400 krona. In Pakistan, customs are exempt from import duties on imported natural gas equipment, vehicles and modified parts, and the tax authorities are also exempt from sales tax on natural gas vehicles. In Bangladesh, the introduction of gas station equipment, modified parts and natural gas vehicles are tax-free, and banks and leasing companies can provide loan support for modified natural gas vehicles. The Asian Development Bank has helped the Dhaka City of Bangladesh to purchase 10,000 sets of natural gas vehicle modifications and vehicle cylinders at one time. There is also Thailand, which not only implements preferential tax policies for original gas, engines and modified parts of natural gas, the tax rate is reduced from 40% to 20%, and finally to 0%, and the Thai government will subsidize 10,000 for each modified natural gas vehicle. Thai baht (about RMB 2,122).

In the process of developing natural gas vehicles, Croatia has carried out new explorations in its organizational form and provided reference for other countries. In 2009, Croatia established the “Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Financing Institution”. After the establishment of the organization, it mainly promoted the development of the clean energy automobile industry through two measures. One is to improve the development of clean vehicle projects by managing bridge fees, traffic jams, controlling cargo transportation in cities and urban transportation facilities, and promoting the development of clean vehicle projects; LNG and CNG vehicles are preferred for commercial, public transportation services, taxis, driving schools and public service companies; financial support for the construction of new LNG and CNG filling stations. The other is to “reduce the transport plan that affects environmental quality” through cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans, Transport and Infrastructure, and the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Enterprise. The main task of the program is to replace passenger cars, trucks and school buses that are not environmentally friendly, and to provide subsidies of 50,000 kuna (about 6,750 euros) per vehicle through financing institutions.

The number of gas stations is small, limiting the application of LNG vehicles

As in China, the lack of gas station construction is an important factor restricting the development of LNG vehicles. The United States is the second largest natural gas producer in the world, and the development of LNG technology has appeared in the 1930s. But according to the US 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 been widely used in LNG vehicles. This has nothing to do with the 66 LNG filling stations in the 10 states.

A spokesperson for a foreign engine company said that the petroleum fuel used has a network of gas stations across continents, and natural gas is also available, but it is used to enter people's homes and power industries through pipelines. The challenge now is to create a ubiquitous form of networking like a diesel station. UPS spokesperson Carla Jhaart Ross has also said that converting 1000 of the 17,000 heavy trucks owned by UPS into LNG trucks is their long-term goal, and now it is impossible to achieve the goal only because of the restrictions of the gas station. ".

It is understood that one of China's largest private energy companies, the Xinao Group, is drastically promoting the infrastructure construction of natural gas-powered heavy trucks in the United States. The background is that the abundant natural gas resources will help the US transportation industry to get rid of imports. The situation of crude oil refining diesel. The relevant person in charge of the Xinao Group recently said that the group has indeed started to build LNG filling stations in the United States, but in a new market, new areas, there will be various variables in its development process. So this year's goal is to build 50 LNG filling stations.

It is worth noting that Clean Energy (clean energy company), the largest transportation gas provider in the United States, is also constructing a “US Gas Highway” project, which will build 150 LNG truck filling stations on major US transportation lines. It plans to enter the downstream industrial chain of natural gas vehicles, namely gas stations, transportation, taxis, airport transportation and municipal vehicle markets.

In fact, most natural gas vehicles on the US road surface belong to government or corporate fleets with centralized gas stations. In a July 2010 report by an investment analysis agency in the United States, a decision was made by a US automaker, such as General Motors, to provide natural gas-using vehicles in the domestic market. Support, help companies transform fleet cars into natural gas vehicles, and build natural gas filling stations.

Although natural gas prices are cheap, the total cost of building LNG filling stations in the United States is not low, or comparable to domestic. According to market sources, the cost of each gas station in the United States is about 1 million US dollars (about 6.22 million yuan), and the cost of building a station in China is about several million yuan. Jiang Yu, head of the international business of Xinao Group, pointed out that the price difference between gas stations in different parts of the United States is very obvious. In general, the cost is still higher than domestic, such as purchasing local equipment, hiring local personnel, and hiring local companies. Design and so on, the cost is higher than domestic.

Under the premise of utilizing abundant natural gas resources and advanced natural gas technology, Germany has promoted the application of LNG vehicles in China by accelerating the construction of LNG filling stations. It can be said that the development of German natural gas vehicles is mainly due to the close cooperation of stakeholders such as natural gas companies, governments and automobile manufacturers. As of the end of 2010, Germany has become the largest number of gas refueling stations in Europe, reaching 900, with about 91,500 natural gas vehicles, mainly concentrated in urban heavy vehicles, including buses and garbage trucks.