NGVA Europe Study Confirms Emission Reduction Benefits of Natural Gas in Transportation

The Natural Gas Vehicles Association Europe (NGVA Europe) has published a study that quantified the greenhouse gas GHG emission reduction benefits of natural gas for light duty and heavy duty transportation.

Alongside data from the major European vehicle and engine makers, Westport Fuel Systems made GHG emissions data specific to the Volvo V60 Bi-Fuel passenger car that uses its advanced natural gas technology from Westport, and Westport High Pressure Direct Injection 2.0 (WestportTM HPDI 2.0) for heavy duty trucks available for the study, enabling state of the art vehicle technologies to be included in the assessment.

The detailed well-to-wheels lifecycle analysis concluded that natural gas fueled passenger cars offer a 23 percent GHG emission reduction benefit compared with petrol, and 7 percent compared with diesel assuming a European Union average upstream gas mix for CNG. In heavy duty applications, trucks fueled by CNG or LNG offer GHG emission reduction benefits of 15 to 16 percent using EU average gas mix. When the highest upstream carbon intensity originating source of LNG (from Algeria) is removed and WestportTM HPDI 2.0 technology is used, reductions of 18 percent to 22 percent were identified. These GHG benefits are significantly amplified when blends of renewable natural gas are used with well-to-wheel emissions being reduced by 80 percent to 95 percent depending on the fuel source and production pathway.

The study analysis was performed by Thinkstep, a leading global consultant specializing in lifecycle analysis, who collected and analyzed the most up to date data from more than 50 industry participants across the natural gas value chain to determine the potential of natural gas engines and vehicles to deliver GHG emission reductions.

The study is available for download here.