NGVAmerica News Week in Review: September 14, 2015

• 2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo This Week!
• U.S. DOE Announces Funds, Workshop for Natural Gas in Heavy Duty Vehicles
• California School District to Add Four More CNG Buses
• Bosch Continues to Develop Direct Injection Technology for CNG Engines
• Crazy Diamond Performance Finds New Vendor for Natural Gas Systems
• Quantum Partners with Ryder to Deliver Q-Cab CNG Modules
• Clean Air Power Acquired by Vayon
• INOXCVA Delivers Large LNG Marine Fuel Tanks for Crowley Maritime Project

2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo This Week!

September 14, 2015

The 2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, will commence this week on Tuesday, September 15. NGVAmerica is proud to be hosting this year’s three-day program, which will be the largest NGV-centric event in North America this year.

The conference & expo will feature more than 60 speakers, 80 exhibitors on a 90,000 sq. ft. expo floor, a Ride & Drive, two off-site facility tours, and ample networking time for NGV leaders to exchange ideas and create new relationships.

The opening day includes the Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, in addition to industry heavyweights and advocates including Andrew Littlefair (Clean Energy), David McCurdy (AGA), Marty Durbin (ANGA), Chip Rimer (Noble Energy), General Michael Hagee (Retired – US Marine Corps), Mike Whitlatch (UPS) and Matt Godlewski (NGVAmerica).  The plenary is preceded by NGVAmerica’s annual board & members’ meeting in the morning which is followed by the 23^rd Annual NGV Achievement Awards presented during lunch and includes guest speaker Sarah Charbonnet Landry (COGA).

A special thank you to all members supporting this endeavor and for demonstrating to attending conference registrants that the NGV industry is vibrant and the marketplace strong.  For more information about this year’s event, visit the show website at www.ngvshow.com.

U.S. DOE Announces Funds, Workshop for Natural Gas in Heavy Duty Vehicles

September 11, 2015

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made $11 million available to support development and demonstration of alternative technologies, including natural gas vehicle technologies, for medium and heavy duty vehicles. The program is designed to help reduce U.S. reliance on gasoline, diesel, and imported petroleum. One of the two areas of interest provides opportunities for NGV technology:

One of the two areas of interest for the funding is the Heavy-Duty Vehicle Dual Fuel Fleet Demonstration program, which seeks to demonstrate the performance of commercially-available dual fuel heavy duty vehicles equipped with engines capable of operation using a mixture of diesel fuel and gaseous fuels and the associated emissions control systems.

Collected data will be analyzed by Energy Department National Laboratories and used to identify technology barriers and inform future efforts. Learn more about this funding opportunity and plan to attend a webinar on September 23, 2015 by visiting the funding website.

California School District to Add Four More CNG Buses

September 10, 2015

Fresno Unified School District in California will purchase four more CNG buses, bringing the number of CNG buses to 63 in the school district’s 97 bus fleet. The school district continues to purchase CNG buses for the environmental and health benefits for its students and drivers.

Fresno Unified aggressively pursues funding for CNG buses, and will use a grant administered through the state Transportation Improvement Program for the latest purchase. Using the grant, the district’s cost per bus is $15,000 for a $186,000 vehicle.

Bosch Continues to Develop Direct Injection Technology for CNG Engines

September 11, 2015
A consortium led by Robert Bosch GmbH is leading efforts with partner companies to further accelerate the commercialization of direct injection technologies for dedicated CNG engines. Partners include Daimler AG and the Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart (FKFS). Umicore AG & Co. KG is also an associated partner. Following a resolution of the German Bundestag, Direct4Gas is supported with $4.3 million USD from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as part of the “Increasing vehicle powertrain efficiency” initiative. The project started in January 2015 and will run until the end of 2017. The long-term objective of the consortium of automotive suppliers and automakers is to create the conditions needed for making the technology ready for production.

CNG vehicles today are generally bivalent, running on gasoline and CNG with engines designed for gasoline direct injection. For CNG operation, they are fitted with an additional manifold injection system for methane. “The problem with this configuration is that neither the combustion process nor the values for efficiency and emissions can be optimized. For this to happen, the CNG—like the gasoline—needs to be injected directly into the combustion chamber,” says Dr. Andreas Birkefeld, the project leader from Robert Bosch GmbH. Because methane behaves differently from gasoline when injected directly, it is important to optimize the combustion process for methane.

The Direct4Gas researchers and engineers will design samples of a direct injector that satisfies much higher standards than the manifold injection valves used up to now. It will have to be especially robust, gas-tight, and reliable, and meter the CNG very precisely. Modifications to the engine itself are to be kept to a minimum, so that the industry can continue using the same components as for gasoline engines. The project team will equip experimental gas engines with the newly developed injector, and test it in the laboratory and in vehicles. Researchers will also examine mixture formation, ignition, and exhaust-gas treatment and develop specific solutions. Direct injection will also be superior to manifold injection in the low-rpm range. As a result, the researchers estimate that direct injection will increase the amount of torque that can be delivered by as much as 60 percent. This would make the CNG engines of the future significantly more dynamic.

Crazy Diamond Performance Finds New Vendor for Natural Gas Systems

September 9, 2015

Green Bridge Technologies (GBT) of New Hudson, Michigan, which is a part of the Icom Group, has launched new natural gas vehicle systems from Crazy Diamond Performance (CDP). Green Bridge Technologies assembles, markets and distributes CDP’s EPA-certified natural gas vehicle systems across North America. The systems are for the Chevrolet Trax and Cruze, which fit a key fleet segment that includes utilities, municipalities, government agencies, livery and medical delivery fleets.

“The Icom Group has now expanded into Natural Gas Vehicle Systems to support our role as an industry leader in the alternative fuel world,” said Ralph Perpetuini, Chairman of Green Bridge Technologies.

Quantum Partners with Ryder to Deliver Q-Cab CNG Modules

September 9, 2015

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide announced that its Q-Cab¹⁶⁰ and Q-Cab¹⁸⁰ product series is now available through the Ryder System network. Ryder, a leader in commercial fleet management, dedicated transportation, and supply chain solutions, is now able to offer its customers the needed capacity in a single module with this new system offering. The 3-tank CNG Module can either be configured as a Q-Cab¹⁶⁰ (160 DGE module) or Q-Cab¹⁸⁰ (180 DGE module).

“Quantum’s new light weight systems are enabling the use of CNG in long haul applications and providing an excellent value proposition for our customers,” said Scott Perry, Ryder Vice President of Supply Management and Global Fuel Products.

Clean Air Power Acquired by Vayon

September 8, 2015

Clean Air Power, a global developer and provider of compression-ignited natural gas systems and software for heavy duty vehicles, announced that it has exchanged contracts with Hardstaff Dual Fuel Technology Limited (Hardstaff), a subsidiary of Vayon Holdings Limited, for the sale of the Company’s subsidiaries. Vayon is a growing group of alternative fuel companies with a goal to develop low-carbon solutions.

INOXCVA Delivers Large LNG Marine Fuel Tanks for Crowley Maritime Project

September 12, 2015

INOXCVA recently delivered the first set of three 27,000 cu. ft. LNG marine fuel tanks to TGE Marine Gas Engineering (Bonn, Germany) for Crowley Maritime Corporation’s 2,400 TEU ConRo ships project. The tanks are destined to VT Halter Marine Shipyard in Mississippi.

These ultra large fuel tanks rolled out from INOXCVA’s Kandla facility in India. INOXCVA has invested in state of the art facilities to manufacture these type off fuel gas tanks and similar large tanks to meet the growing requirement for shorter overall project schedules.

When installed on the ConRo Ship, the combined LNG storage would be among the largest for LNG systems and it will support operation of ME-GI main engine and auxiliary generators. The tanks are double walled vacuum insulated Type-C tanks with very high hold time, in excess of 58 days as compared to conventionally insulated LNG tanks which would normally hold for 8 to 10 days.

The second set of three similar tanks will be delivered later this year.