Natural Gas Now!

Don’t miss Westport’s must-attend natural gas vehicle event and expert panel on March 19

Join Westport for a first-hand experience of the latest in natural gas vehicle technology and fueling infrastructure, on March 19 in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Learn about why the range, options and benefits of NGVs—from pick-up trucks to locomotives—are greater than ever, during the Westport Natural Gas Now open house and panel presentation.

Attendees will get first-hand knowledge about natural gas vehicles, infrastructure, owner experience, and get an up-close-and-personal look at a natural gas powered vehicles, fuel storage solutions and the Westport Kentucky Integration Center.

The expert panel will speak to their experience and answer questions:

• Fleet customer Lynn Lyons on Pioneer Natural Resources’ experience with their fleet of CNG powered 225 Ford F-250 pickups and natural gas heavy duty vehicles.
• Fuel provider Clean Energy’s James Harger on infrastructure – fuel availability is key for fleets. Learn about the resources that are helping fleets transition to natural gas.
• Westport CEO David Demers on why shifting to natural gas makes so much sense, for the economy, the environment and the country.
• Westport Executive Vice President Ian Scott will discuss the latest in natural gas truck and related fueling systems. 

Participants are invited to join us for a lively session to broaden their NGV education, and enjoy some Kentucky hospitality with food and refreshments, while touring Westport’s facility in Louisville.

Activities include:

• Show & shine—kick the tires on a wide range of Westport-powered natural gas vehicles, from Ford pick-ups, to Class 8 trucks, to fueling systems
• Ride & drive—opportunities to drive natural gas powered Ford Super Duty trucks
• Westport Kentucky Integration Center tours 

Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Time: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Location: Westport Kentucky Integration Center (WKIC) 3661 Collins Lane Louisville, KY 40245

Westport is pleased to offer shuttles to and from Louisville hotels.

Speaker information and registration are online at:

http://www.westport.com/news-events/events/natural-gas-now#register

The Hurdle of Natural Gas Fueling Infrastructure

The headlines have been buzzing with stories of natural gas fueling the future of transportation – from new fueling stations built to new legislature passed that makes it easier for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) to be the natural choice (pardon the pun). Truck fleet managers can see the benefit of switching to a CNG-powered fleet as the price of gasoline and diesel continues to climb and the differential between these and natural gas gets larger. Even with the higher cost of NGVs at the offset, some quick math shows that the fuel-cost savings over the lifetime of the fleet makes the investment more than worthwhile.(link to cost saving calculator)

So what’s the hold up? When fleet managers consider switching their trucks to natural gas, they face the same problem that has caused a bottleneck in adoption of passenger NGVs: lack of fueling infrastructure. The lack of fueling stations for CNG and LNG is the biggest obstacle that NGVs face, but it’s not one that’s insurmountable. America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) released a comprehensive analysis that defines the scope of the issue in the U.S. and Canada.

Taking a look at countries that have a strong backbone of fueling stations for their NGV’s, such as Pakistan, Iran, Argentina and Brazil, proves that this infrastructure is attainable. While Jim Grambihler – who coordinates three of the four committees within ANGA’s Drive Natural Gas Initiative – agrees that we are a long way from catching up to these countries, he commented in an interview with NGT News that even right now, with the relatively small number of NGVs on U.S. roads, there is already more demand for CNG for transportation use than existing stations can accommodate.

Currently, there are about 1,000 CNG refueling sites in the U.S. (many of which are private access) compared to approximately 119,000 retail gasoline stations. While this can be seen as a significant hurdle to the widespread use of NGVs, it’s also a huge opportunity for natural gas distribution companies to take advantage of the current upswing in natural gas fueled transportation.

Companies like Clean Energy Fuels (who announced its plan to build an American Natural Gas Highway) and Shell Oil Company (who announced a partnership with TravelCenters of America refueling stations) are poised to reap the first benefits of the switch.