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German Project Proves Value of Natural Gas Vehicles

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

Germany

A three-year project initiated by the and rural Ministry of the environment has confirmed that natural gas vehicles deliver outstanding economic and air quality results. 514 vehicles working in fleets such as DHL, UPS, TNT and the German Red Cross were analysed extensively over the three-year period.

Vehicles involved in the trial included: Ford Transit CNG, Iveco DAILY CNG, Mercedes Sprinter NGT, OPEL Combo 1,6 CNG and the VOLKSWAGEN Caddy EcoFuel. The test vehicles travelled an average of 47,000 km each per year with ‘payback’ on the incremental cost of the CNG vehicle achieved within the first year.

Analysis by the Wildau College of further education indicated an overall 25% saving over the cost of diesel vehicles in the 166 CNG vehicles operated by DeTeFleet. 

The Red Cross meanwhile, which had 23 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter NGTs in the program, said the benefits were just economical but also help with the public image of the organization.

Source: NGV Global