AUTONEWS

Europe bets on natural gas for good

The European Union (EU) is committed to improving the air quality it breathes and reducing the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which, while not a pollutant, causes the greenhouse effect responsible for climate change. This is a cyclopean task, with several areas of intervention, and it starts right from the attack on the production of electricity by burning coal - a priority because it is by far the most polluting -, derived from oil and even natural gas, concentrating it. progressively in renewable sources.
After defining the strategy for electricity generation, the EU concentrated on transport, starting with light vehicles. Not because they are the most problematic, but because they are the easiest to change as investment is shifted to manufacturers. Hence the electrification of conventionally powered vehicles and the evolution of electric models powered by batteries or the fuel cell, reflecting ever tighter limits on CO2 emissions.

For whom is natural gas a priority?
With the problem of light vehicles 'resolved', the EU is now focusing on heavy transport (long-haul trucks and public transport buses) and maritime navigation, the operation of which is more polluting than you might think, because these are vehicles. that must always be in motion. Soon to pollute to be profitable.
Forcing lorries (and ships) to adhere to battery-powered electric motors does not make much sense at the moment - even though Tesla and Nicola continue to work - and the solution advocated by Toyota, which is electric but uses hydrogen fuel is not yet mature enough, although it is being promised for this year.

The only solution on the table to cut emissions considerably and that can be implemented immediately is natural gas. Scientists agree - let's say it was a much less controversial decision than investing in electric cars - and Brussels rushed to announce that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was to be discontinued and that natural gas was their new bet.

What is natural gas about?
Compared to gasoline and diesel, natural gas has only advantages. It is burned in well-known engines, essentially adapted petrol units, while their combustion is virtually particle free - it produces 75% to 85% less nitrogen oxides (NOx) and generates 25% less CO2. More importantly, it is cheaper and factory-prepared vehicles to run on this gas cost significantly the price of a gasoline competitor and substantially less than a similar diesel-powered vehicle.
If you are wondering how the EU can be sure of implementing this new fuel, we can always tell you that it has one asset that guarantees its success: the cost. A vehicle that consumes vehicular natural gas guarantees 50% savings over a gasoline-like model and 40% over a diesel. And this is an argument that most drivers (and their companies) will be very sensitive to. And if you still have questions about success, just look at what happened in Italy, where 30% to 40% of the circulating park is natural gas, with Germany and Spain growing rapidly.

So much effort to save only 25% CO2?
The EU's goal is to achieve much more than this 25% CO2 savings. This would be guaranteed if it continued indefinitely to consume natural gas extracted from the underground. What Brussels wants is to use this gas, but not that imported from North Africa, Russia or any other source. The idea to minimize the environmental impact is to produce it in Portugal and from renewable sources, such as that generated in Mirandela, in one of Dourogás facilities. From the degradation, in the absence of oxygen, of organic matter, the company produces biogas. This is then enriched until it can be used to produce natural gas, where about 90% is methane.
According to Dourogás, three garbage trucks, loaded with municipal waste, arrive at the Mirandela site daily to fill the deposit with the gas produced there to continue their journey. It is called the “circular economy”, with Dourogás announcing that it will create five new biogas projects similar to Mirandela's. Also according to the company, using municipal waste to produce biogas allows an energy use of 90% of waste, a value well above the 30% that would be obtained if they were burned in plants to produce electricity.

Gas station costs 1 million euros
The question “where can I get natural gas” had the answer, until recently, “there is only one gas station in Lisbon and one in Porto”. Today, however, there are already 14 filling stations, according to Jorge Figueiredo of the Portuguese Natural Gas Vehicle Association, 10 belonging to Dourogás and the remaining four to Galp. The network, still embryonic - at a huge distance from the 1,252 stations in Italy, 854 from Germany, 177 from the Netherlands, 87 from France and even from the 67 places where it can be found next door in Spain - promises to grow rapidly as the current one pressure from heavy vehicles joins the buses and soon the taxis.
The Portuguese distribution network is intended to feed the trucks that circulate in our country, already through the main roads, but especially those heading to Europe. But all stations will be accessible to light vehicles using natural gas. While trucks fill their tanks with liquefied natural gas (LNG) at a temperature of minus 162 ° C to keep it in a liquid state and thus occupy 600 times less volume than in the gaseous state, light vehicles top up with compressed natural gas at 200 bar (CNG, also known as vehicular natural gas) to monetize the investment. Crucially, especially as each gas station costs 1 million euros, according to Dourogás. Hence, in order to make the investment profitable, each gas station will supply both LNG and CNG fuels, which means that the network designed primarily for heavy duty vehicles will also serve light vehicles.

Do light cars have advantages in CNG?
According to António Calvo, the head of Seat's mobility program in Barcelona, ​​yes. The technician, who has been following the rapid growth of the Spanish CNG and LNG supply network, states that CNG allows the lowest cost per kilometer compared to traditional fuels. By ensuring that a vehicle like the Seat Ibiza travels 100 km with just € 3.24, the same TDI engine Ibiza would run the same amount of 61 km and only 49 km if it were equipped with a TSI petrol engine.
A CNG engine, basically a gasoline engine adapted to burn this gas (in addition to being fitted with tanks to house the CNG), provides the driver with the same power and strength as a conventional gasoline engine. But if the fuel tank is limited to 15 liters, the owner (if it is a company) still has the advantage of recovering 50% of vehicle VAT and the same percentage of fuel costs. It also benefits from a 40% reduction in ISV, as does the autonomous contribution (depending on tiers, it pays 7.5% instead of 10%, 15% instead of 27.5% and 27.5% instead of 35%).
For Seat, the future of mobility lies in electric vehicles. But if they can satisfy many, they will not be able to serve them all, according to Rodolfo Florit, the general manager of Seat Portugal. The head of the brand foresees greater difficulties for those who live outside large urban centers or do not have easy access to loading stations, besides those who travel long distances daily. It is for all of these that the Spanish brand today offers a range of four vehicles (Ibiza, Arona, Leon 5-door and Leon ST), all of them with GNC versions (called TGI) at almost the same price as gasoline engines ( TSI) and with powers between 90 and 130 hp.
Undisputed is the fact that the GNC models allow a very low cost per kilometer, being able to travel for only € 20 a total of 642 km, better than the 371 km of models using GPL, 302 km diesel and 276 km of engines the gasoline. If, on the other hand, we consider well-wheeled CO2 emissions, ie the whole process from gas extraction to the car wheel, the CNG (103 g) can beat gasoline units (132 g). and diesel (109 g), with this value falling to just 24 g if CNG was generated from biomethane. This can only be exceeded by electric vehicles when they recharge with energy that does not originate from the burning of coal or oil products and is provided by renewable sources.