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Home > Markets > Alternative Fuels > An Impressive Performance for an Alternative Fuel
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An Impressive Performance for an Alternative Fuel
Amid rising concern over climate change, people around the world are searching for alternatives to gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum-based vehicle fuels. Last fall, German adventurer and automobile enthusiast Rainer Zietlow set out to demonstrate that natural gas could be just such an alternative by embarking on an around-the-world odyssey in an automobile powered solely by compressed natural gas (CNG). Swagelok Company was among the cosponsors of the tour.
Zietlow’s vehicle of choice for the EcoFuel World Tour was a factory-built two-liter, four-cylinder Volkswagen Caddy that had been optimized for natural gas operations and fitted out with extra fuel tanks. The engine delivered 80 kW (107 HP) running exclusively on compressed natural gas. Swagelok supplied tube fittings, valves, and hoses on the Caddy. The majority of the components were the same ones that go onto every factory-built VW Caddy with the bi-fuel (CNG/petrol) option.
Accompanied by a support vehicle with a mechanic, cameraman, and photographer, Zietlow began the tour in October in Cologne, Germany. His travels took him and his companions to more than 40 destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and South and North America before ending – nearly 50,000 kilometers later – back in Germany. Thirty-two natural gas stations supplied the car’s fuel on the journey.
During his tour, Zietlow was welcomed at authorized Swagelok sales and service centers, where the public was invited to learn about CNG as an alternative fuel source and hear stories of the team’s amazing trek. The tour also included a stop at Swagelok Company headquarters in Solon, Ohio. After the tour concluded, in May, Zietlow and his team took the car back on the road, visiting authorized Swagelok sales and service centers in Europe.
Among the EcoFuel World Tour’s goals was to demonstrate the economy of natural gas as compared with gasoline. The tour measured the fuel costs of its CNG-powered vehicle against those of a standard mid-range gasoline-powered car, and found that its savings amounted to $8.78 per 100 kilometers (62 miles).
The Caddy also performed well environmentally, emitting far lower volumes of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and soot particles than would a comparable gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle.
“Swagelok saw this as an extraordinary opportunity to show the world that standard products, available through our global sales and service centers, are readily adaptable to the rigors of an around-the-world challenge. No special components went into building this vehicle,” says Pete Ehlers, Swagelok Company’s alternative fuels market manager.
He continues, “During the trek, our valve, fitting, and hose products behaved flawlessly and provided the team with the high level of confidence they needed to travel through some very difficult and desolate terrain. We are also very pleased to see an equivalent level of performance from the other partners’ products that Rainer depended on to successfully complete this trek. This real-world application can be used as an archetype for future alternative fuel vehicle development programs and truly exhibited Swagelok Company’s leadership in the NGV industry.”
More information about the EcoFuel World Tour is available at http://www.ecofuel-world-tour.com/.
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