Natural gas vehicle

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NGV also stands for National Gallery of Victoria

A Natural gas vehicle or NGV is a vehicle that uses compressed natural gas (CNG) or, less commonly, liquified natural gas (LNG)) as a clean alternative to other automobile fuels. Worldwide, there are roughly 4 million NGVs as of 2004, with the largest number of NGVs in Argentina, Brazil, and Pakistan. They are also popular in Italy and Germany.

NGV's have the advantage of being potentially refuelled at home from existing natural gas lines with home refuelling stations that tap into such lines. Honda has pioneered such a system known as "Phill". [1],[2]

While existing gasoline-powered vehicles may be converted to CNG, an increasing number of vehicles worldwide are being manufactured to run on CNG. For example, in Klang Valley, Malaysia taxis had converted theirs car to NGV, greatly reducing the cost of operation. GM do Brasil introduced in August, 2004 the MultiPower engine, which was capable to use NGV, alcohol and petrol as fuel, since it's electronic fuel injection could adapt automatically to any acceptable fuel configuration. This motor equipped the Chevrolet Astra and was aimed at the taxis market.

Although a localized problem, NGV refill stations can be scarce in some places, so cab drivers need to wait in long queues to refill.

1 Chemical composition and energy content
- 1.1 Chemical composition
- 1.2 Energy content
2 Storage and transport
- 2.1 Transport
- 2.2 Storage
3 See also
4 External links
- 4.1 North America
- 4.2 South Asia

[edit] Chemical composition and energy content

[edit] Chemical composition

The primary component of natural gas is methane (C H₄), the shortest and lightest hydrocarbon molecule. It may also contain heavier gaseous hydrocarbons such as ethane (C₂H₆), propane (C₃H₈) and butane (C₄H₁₀), as well as other gases, in varying amounts. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a common contaminant, which must be removed prior to most uses.

[edit] Energy content

Combustion of one cubic meter yields 38 MJ (10.6 kWh). Natural gas has the highest energy/carbon ratio of any fossil fuel, and thus produces less carbon dioxide per unit of energy.

[edit] Storage and transport

[edit] Transport

The major difficulty in the use of natural gas is transportation. Natural gas pipelines are economical, but are impractical across oceans. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are also used, but have higher cost and safety problems.