The Need for our Natural Gas Vehicle Infrastructure to Expand through Continued Government Support and Training

Natural Gas or CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles could provide a large amount of alternative fuel vehicles in the future as the proper training and facilities exist that allow companies to setup their own natural gas vehicle fleets. A large number of natural gas vehicle fleets already exist in the US, many are applied toward heavy duty vehicles which include buses and large trucks. In fact, one third of newly made transit buses are natural gas powered. Over 100,000 natural gas vehicles are on the road and the goal is to increase the number to over 1.6 million natural gas powered vehicles. The setup and maintainance of natural gas vehicle fleets require major infrastructure setups which oftentimes includes the conversion of gasoline or diesel engines into natural gas or propane based engines. Vehicle fleets can also require the set up of in-house natural gas service fill stations, which are very convenient for government and certain business locations that could possibly setup service stations in their own parking lot. In fact several types of natural gas service station fills for vehicle fleets can be setup using the existing natural gas lines near the businesses and organizations with the addition of equipment such as compressors, dryers, vaporizers & separators. The Department of Energy has a very nice website that includes publications that help companies setup natural gas service fill stations through their Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicle Data Center [ Link to NREL Publication ]. Across the country there are over 1300 natural gas fueling stations with half of them being available for public use. The DOE also has a NGV Station Locator.

Many NGV stations are private because they are fueling stations for government, school or business natural gas vehicle fleets as was discussed previously. In the future there should be a demand for automotive technicians who are certified in conversion/installation and maintenance of natural gas vehicles. There is also a need for Inspectors of the critical natural gas component systems in vehicles such as CNG (compressed natural gas). CNG vehicle components have to be inspected every 36,000 miles. There are basically three choices for natural gas systems that a vehicle can operate on, those being CNG (compressed natural gas), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and propane or LPG (liquefied petroleum or propane gas). Since common gasoline or large sized vehicles can be converted into natural gas systems, training should be needed for technicians who can convert light duty or heavy duty into natural gas based vehicles using one of the three types of natural gas fuels. Training technicians to set up and manage natural gas vehicle refueling stations as well as servicing these type of vehicle fleets should be needed in the future. In order to convert a regular gasoline engine based vehicle to run on natural gas, system components such as the fuel tank and carbuerator/fuel injection systems must be modified. Vehicles can even operate on a combination of CNG and gasoline. Organizations such as the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium offer certified training courses and workshops concerning natural gas vehicles for those seeking to become automotive technicians in this discipline.

Special thanks for photo contributors from Picasa Web Album

KEYWORDS: Natural Gas Engine Conversion, Natural Gas Vehicle Station Locator, Setup of Natural Gas Filling Stations, CNG - LNG - LPG Vehicles, Light or Heavy Duty Natural Gas Vehicles, Natural Gas Vehicle Automotive Technicians, Natural Gas Vehicle Certification or Inspection, Natural Gas Vehicle Fleets

Custom Search

Regenerative Redundant Electrical Generation in Electric Vehicles could Aid in Vehicle Efficiency

Power efficiency in Electrical Vehicles that includes electrical power regeneration should be a major consideration when designing these type of vehicles. The type and size of the rechargable vehicle battery is already one of the most important considerations when refering to overall vehicle efficiency. The two more important processes that require higher amounts of electrical energy in these vehicles are the air conditioning system and the battery recharing system. In many plug in electric vehicle designs, some of the power generated by the combustion engine is used to recharge the vehicle battery when its capacity gets lower than a certain charge level. In non plug-in electric vehicles (HEV's), regenerative electric power that is applied to the battery is produced by taking advantage of the braking and coasting functions that produce electric power near the wheels. This type of system would also be advantageous for plug in electric vehicles. In theory, a redudant electrical power generation system obtained from several regenerative power sources could help future electric vehicle designs. Redudant systems could be useful in plug-in electric hybrids since regeneration of battery power is not always needed and can be applied towards other electrical systems in the car such as air conditioning and lights. The type of regenerative power sources include roof top solar PVs, wind turbines, waste heat to electricity systems and also the aforementioned regenerative braking system.

Alternative power sources such as solar and wind power have already been developed and designed as regenerative power sources for electric hybrid vehicles. One example includes a possible wind turbine that can fit on the top of a vehicle roof that would be designed to recharge the battery. Such a system may be considered by Automobile manufacturers from individual(s) who have designed wind turbine & electric generator patent. The use of solar roof top PV panels have also been designed by companies and are currently being used in selected vehicle models for battery recharge capability. One of the more important functions of vehicle use that takes large amounts of electrical power is the air conditioning system. It is estimated that normal sized vehicles use up to 400 Watts of power just to run the air compressor used for air conditioning, waste heat generated from the vehicle is one regenerative power source that could be utilized to run an air compressor. Waste heat generated by the engine block could be taken advantage of also. The waste heat from the engine block could be recovered by placing semiconductor like chips on the engine itself and possibly converting the waste heat directly into electrical energy. There are many options to regenerate electrical energy to assist with it's many needed uses in a vehicle that many times is provided for by the battery itself. The size and weight of the vehicle battery itself also affects engine performance.

Photos taken from Picasa Web album

KEYWORDS: Redundant Electrical Power Generation, Regenerative Braking and Coasting, Waste Heat to Electrical Generation from Computer Chips, Vehicle Wind Turbine Generator, Vehicle Roof top Photovoltaic Panels