Primary Advantages of Driving Natural
Gas Vehicles

In this section are the key points from our industry published today, entitled "Alternative Transportation: Natural Gas and Propane Vehicles – Cleaner, Cheaper, Available Today."

We believe that natural gas vehicles (NGVs) will become a major player in the US fleet market.  Vehicles are a major contributor to air pollution, without cleaner running vehicles we will continue to put 27 million tons of carbon, 2 million tons of nitrous oxide, and tons of hydrocarbons into the air every year.  Natural gas vehicles are cleaner and are here today.  Over nine million NGVs are on the road today, but only 120,000 in the US.  With the Obama administration committed to the environment a sea change could be coming for the NGV movement in the US.  Natural gas vehicles have a number of desirable properties:

• Natural gas vehicles are cleaner and quieter.  While not zero emissions NGVs produce 33-75% less nitrogen oxide, 21% green house gases and 50-67% less particulates.  John Deere estimates that diesel engines make 9x the noise of a natural gas engine
• Natural gas vehicles are cheaper.  We estimate 40% less than gas vehicles. 
• Natural gas is domestically available and relatively abundant.  Of the 23,000 billion cubic feet of natural gas consumed annually in the US only 2% comes from outside North America and only 2% is used for transportation.  With the recent shale gas findings natural gas production in the continental US has gone from flat to 9% growth.  The EPA estimates that there is over 1,100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the US (- 48 years of supply).
• Natural gas vehicles generally have lower tail pipe emissions than most conventional auto technologies
• Emissions of evaporative hydrocarbons through the fueling system are one of the most significant air pollution problems associated with gasoline powered vehicles.
• Natural gas systems have zero evaporative emissions, since their fueling system is a sealed system.  This is a major air quality benefit of natural gas technologies.
• Natural gas vehicles perform quite similar to conventional vehicle technologies.  Evidence shows that natural gas vehicles require less frequent oil changes and less frequent servicing than conventional technologies.
• Natural gas vehicles have reduced overall maintenance costs, especially in comparison to diesel technologies.  Natural gas, primarily a domestic source, helps to break the nation’s dependency on foreign petroleum sources.