As a vehicle fuel, LNG (liquefied natural gas) has the advantages of high octane number, good anti explosion performance, low engine loss, low fuel cost and good environmental protection performance compared with traditional fuel. Therefore, in foreign countries, the research, development and application of LNG commercial vehicles have been vigorously promoted for a long time.
It is widely used in the field of commercial vehicles
Take the United States and Germany for example, LNG vehicles have been promoted for many years. It is understood that at present, LNG vehicles in operation are mainly commercial vehicles, such as urban public transport, urban engineering vehicles, sanitation vehicles and logistics transportation companies. First of all, this is because commercial vehicles have large transportation volume and high utilization rate, and the price of natural gas is cheaper than that of fuel. Secondly, LNG vehicles have less pollution emissions. Compared with the large amount of particulate matter and noise pollution caused by diesel engine, the pollution of LNG vehicles is smaller.
In the United States, logistics vehicles are the most used LNG vehicles at present. In the use and promotion of medium and short haul heavy trucks, LNG vehicles are mainly arranged with a single cylinder longitudinally on both sides of the frame. They can choose either the ignition combustion mode or the hybrid compression ignition mode of HPDI (similar to diesel engine). For example, most of the medium and short haul vehicles used by UPS logistics group adopt HPDI type. This diesel is gradually recognized by developed countries as the control type of precombustion, compression ignition and ignition of natural gas. As early as 2011, UPS purchased 48 LNG trucks and put them into the company in Lake Ontario, California. At the same time, the city transportation department of New York also operates natural gas buses. Telecom companies Verizon Communications Inc. and at & T Inc. are also using natural gas powered trucks.
In Germany, Hellmann logistics, a large logistics company, began to test LNG fueled heavy trucks in the autumn of 2012 and carried out road transportation for a period of four weeks. Since then, LNG trucks have also opened the market of German LNG logistics suppliers.
The road test shows that the LNG truck can complete the task well. Ren é stocker, head of Hanhong logistics, said that the trial has proved that compared with diesel vehicles, the LNG truck can reduce the emission of carbon dioxide to a great extent, while the emission of other harmful substances (such as carbon particles and nitric oxide) can be almost ignored.
Natural gas trucks have become a new development trend worldwide. Compared with traditional diesel trucks, natural gas trucks are more environmentally friendly, lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower operating noise. Although the price will be higher than diesel trucks, in the long run, the advantages of natural gas trucks will become more and more obvious in today's rising oil prices.
In addition to the United States and Germany, the development of natural gas vehicles in France, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal is also mainly concentrated on commercial vehicles, including buses, logistics vehicles and garbage vehicles.
Policies to ensure the promotion of LNG vehicles
Similar to China, the promotion of natural gas vehicles through policy support is also one of the means of some countries. For example, the purpose of promoting LNG vehicles is achieved by reducing taxes and providing subsidies. In Sweden, the road tax paid by natural gas vehicles is about 3000 kroner lower than that paid by diesel vehicles. In Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, from 6:30 to 18:30 from Monday to Friday, each vehicle entering and leaving the city has to pay the traffic jam fee, but energy-saving and environmental protection vehicles such as natural gas vehicles can be exempted from the traffic jam fee, and each environmental protection vehicle can save up to 14400 kroner per year. In Pakistan, the customs is duty-free for imported natural gas equipment, vehicles and modified parts, and the tax department is also exempt from sales tax for natural gas vehicles. In Bangladesh, the introduction of gas station equipment, modified parts and natural gas vehicles enjoy tax exemption policies, and banks and leasing companies can provide loan support for the modification of natural gas vehicles. The Asian Development Bank has helped Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to purchase 10000 sets of modified parts and gas cylinders for natural gas vehicles at one time. In addition, Thailand not only implements preferential tax policies for original natural gas vehicles, engines and modified parts, with the tax rate first reduced from 40% to 20% and finally reduced to 0%, but also the Thai government will subsidize 10000 baht (about 2122 yuan) for each natural gas vehicle modified by individuals.
In the process of developing natural gas vehicles, Croatia has made new exploration in the organizational form, which provides a reference for other countries. In 2009, Croatia established the "environmental protection and energy efficiency fund financing agency". After its establishment, the agency mainly promotes the development of clean energy vehicle industry through two measures. The first is to improve the application of alternative fuels and fuel cells in passenger and freight transportation system by managing bridge fees and traffic congestion fees, controlling urban cargo transportation and urban traffic facilities construction, so as to promote the development of clean vehicle projects; LNG and CNG vehicles are preferentially used in commerce, public transport services, taxis, driving schools and public service companies; Support the construction of new LNG and CNG filling stations through financial means. The other is to carry out the "transportation plan to reduce the impact on environmental quality" through cooperation with the Ministry of oceans, transport and infrastructure and the Ministry of economy, labor and enterprise. The main work of the plan is to replace buses, trucks and school buses that fail to meet environmental standards, and provide 50000 Kuna (about 6750 euros) subsidies for each vehicle through financing institutions.