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Even the bestseller should be cleaned with natural gas.
BerlinAuf the Annual General Meeting in May leaves CEO Herbert dies There is no doubt as to how the priorities in the Volkswagen Group are distributed. For several minutes he talks about climate change, electromobility and the VW– own strategy with battery cells, “For the foreseeable future there will be no alternative to the battery electric drive,” Diess lectures.
The Electric car is much more energy efficient As other alternative powertrains, electromobility is Volkswagen’s “key element of the carbon dioxide strategy”.
There is not much room left for other drive types. For the natural gas drive fall in the speech of Herbert Diess just two meager sentences. “We are world market leaders in gas propulsion and better positioned than the competition. We will also expand and improve this technology, “promises the VW boss in front of the shareholders.
However, the sales and registration figures make it clear why the CEO of VW has been so reluctant to natural gas propulsion (specialist term: “Compressed Natural Gas”, CNG). VW may be the world leader, but at an extremely low level. In the past year, of nearly 11 million vehicles sold by the Group, no 100,000 had a natural gas drive. In Germany There are nearly 60 million vehicles, and no 100,000 have a CNG drive.
Despite the new electric offensive and not necessarily convincing experience, the Volkswagen Group wants to try again with the natural gas cars. Although CNG vehicles will by far not reach the planned numbers of electric cars. But after all, Volkswagen expects a certain upward trend, especially supported by new models.
In addition, there is a good case to opt for a natural gas vehicle: the cars are more environmentally friendly than the classic gasoline engine, the natural gas burns cleaner. “We achieve the lowest pollutant values with our models,” said Stephen Neumann, natural gas representative of the VW Group, on Tuesday at the “CNG Mobility” days in Berlin.
Volkswagen and several sister brands from the group present their new developments using natural gas engines there. The CNG drive uses commercial natural gas for combustion in the engine. It should not be confused with the more widespread LPG (“LPG”), which comes because of its chemical proximity to gasoline to lower emissions.
Minimum market share
When natural gas combustion in the vehicle produces almost no particulate matter, the nitrogen oxide levels are also much lower than the petrol engine. The carbon dioxide load is at least 20 percent lower than the classic gasoline engine. Technically, natural gas engines are very similar to gasoline engines. Therefore, there are many models also a small emergency tank for gasoline. At least the last kilometers to the next natural gas filling station can be bridged.
But even with these arguments, the CNG drive has failed to achieve significant sales figures in recent years. “Granted, we are moving at a very low level,” admitted the VW natural gas commissioner Neumann. The Volkswagen Group ensures that the CNG drive does not finally disappear into the drawers. Without VW, this drive would no longer exist. Last year, just 11,000 natural gas vehicles were registered in Germany (total car market: 3.4 million).
In Germany, the CNG cars from the Volkswagen Group on a market share of 95 percent, in Europe, there are still at least 70 percent. Among the other providers – with a smaller range of vehicles – belong mainly Opel and Fiat. In addition to the cars are now also increasingly commercial vehicles powered by natural gas to be sold. Among the providers include Iveco from the Fiat Group and the VW subsidiaries MAN and Scania,
So far, there have been 17 passenger car models with the CNG drive in the Volkswagen Group. By the end of the year it will be 19, the Czech daughter Skoda contributes two more models. The natural gas engine is available in the Volkswagen Group not only in the classic car, but also in several off-road vehicles. The group wants to take into account the rapidly growing popularity of the SUV. The Ingolstadt premium subsidiary Audi has a gas-powered station wagon in the program.
In Wolfsburg there is the hope that it is slowly progressing with this wide range of models in the CNG drive. In addition, a reduced rate of mineral oil tax applies until 2026, which is about 30 percent lower than gasoline. The fuel consumption of the CNG engine is about the same as a gasoline engine. Commercial vehicles will be toll-free in Germany at least until the end of next year.
Biomethane is supposed to make gas carbon neutral
There is a need to catch up at the petrol stations in any case. Volkswagen has been advocating for some years that the tank infrastructure should be significantly expanded. In Germany there are about 900 natural gas filling stations; this number should be more than doubled.
But a decisive breakthrough has so far failed. Natural gas may still suffer from a bad image: most recently, three years ago, the tank of a natural gas vehicle exploded, and petrol stations had stopped selling fuel for some time afterwards. The expansion of the tank network will be problematic because CNG now has to compete more with electric mobility.
Above all, growing environmental awareness should help the CNG drive in the end to more popularity. The majority of the fuel used today, like the fuel gas, comes from gas fields in Norway, the Netherlands and Russia. About 20 percent is now biologically produced fuel (“biomethane”), which is mainly produced from biowaste from agriculture. This share is to be further increased in the coming years.
“This will make us carbon neutral immediately,” said VW CNG expert Neumann. At least four million cars could be operated in Germany with biomethane, VW scientists expect. Other estimates, such as from the Leipzig biomethane manufacturer verbio calculate that it could potentially be twice as many.
The methane production from straw, which is no longer burned on the fields, but transformed as natural gas into the car tanks, is becoming increasingly important. Neumann spreads the hope that in the year 2025 about one million natural gas vehicles could be on the roads in Germany.
Experts are still skeptical whether the CNG drive in the coming years can achieve a certain breakthrough. The biggest problem is that now also the large-scale construction of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles begins. For the motorist, it is getting confused, what all new tank and charging stations arise. “Natural gas will not help us with decarbonization,” said Stefan Bratzel, a professor at the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach. Because even CNG will be burned like gasoline and diesel. Genuine clean energy is only available from renewable sources such as sun and wind.
The natural gas drive has not become relevant from the customer’s point of view in the past ten years, continues Bratzel. Therefore, the question is justified why the CNG just now should gain more importance. The natural gas drive is probably at most a bridging technology – until the power drive has finally prevailed.
After all, even Volkswagen benefits from it, if more natural gas cars are sold in the future. With their better emission levels, CNG vehicles can help lower the fleet limits set by the EU. Possible fines are thus lower for the Wolfsburg.
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