While more than 4 million vehicles run on NGV around the world, only 3.000 run in France. With expensive oil and the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, France recently set itself the target of 100.000 vehicles in 2010.
In a context where transport represents 30% of the energy consumption of a French person and 27% of his greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Paper of the European Commission underlines the importance of promoting progressive growth by others. sources of energy and sets as a target the replacement, by 2020, of 20% of conventional fuels by alternative fuels.
A natural gas car is a standard gasoline vehicle, originally modified by the manufacturer, simply equipped with one or more tanks, a dipstick and an additional engine power supply for natural gas. The cars currently available on the market are called bi-fuel gas / gasoline vehicles, since they work with both energies. Thanks to its natural gas tank, a bi-fuel vehicle can travel on average 300 km more than a conventional vehicle. Indeed, to the natural gas autonomy (from 200 to 500 km depending on the models) is added that related to the content of the fuel tank which remains generally unchanged. The vehicle is primarily driven by natural gas and the changeover to gasoline is automatic as soon as the natural gas tank is empty.
