CNG: Petrol's nicer twin?

The Ecofuel World Tour team is attempting to set a Guinness World Record for being the first team to travel 45,000km, over five continents, in as many countries, running solely on natural gas.

Driving a standard CNG Volkswagen Caddy, they have retrofitted the vehicle with nine additional carbon tanks that give the vehicle a whopping range of 3,000km. Having travelled from Europe through to the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia, they still have two remaining legs in Australia and the Americas to go, and are expected to spend at least three more months on the road.

The team is currently carrying out a scheduled pitstop in Singapore for repairs and maintenance after setting off from Germany last October.

AsiaOne caught up with Mr Rainer Zietlow, leader of the Ecofuel World Tour team, at Singapore's pioneer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion workshop, C. Melchers-Galileo.

How is the Volkswager Caddy performing so far?

It's performing quite well actually. It has a heavy duty chassis which means we can put all of our fully-filled tanks weighing about 600 kg on the car boot, and so far the car is going very well. Consumptions runs about six to seven kg of gas to 100 km, and the engine runs great. No problems so far.

What's the team dynamics like?

I've got a very professional four person team. I do the organising and driving, and I have a mechanic with me who does all the repairs and CNG fillings. We also have a photographer and one video cameraman.

Has it been an eventful three months crossing so many countries?

The Iran border was quite interesting, because when I opened my car boot and they see the tanks, they asked me, "Hey are you tourist or terrorist?"

Anyhow, the tour is on schedule, so far no problems other than one tyre puncture. India is quite a tricky country for CNG because there is only CNG in the west coast, but apart from that, things have been quite good so far.

Do you think CNG will ever over-take petrol?

Probably not overtake, but CNG will play a major role. For example, in Germany we have a 5% market share, and I'm pretty sure it will go up to 20%. CNG is very reliable, it is almost 50% cheaper than fuel and you know it will last much longer. If fuel runs out in 2030 or 2040, we will still have CNG available. Of course, another big factor is that the environment will be better protected.
CNG the way to go for Singapore

AsiaOne also spoke to C. Melchers-Galileo's Business Development Executive, Mr Marc Dass.

On the future of CNG in Singapore, he said: "I think that CNG is moving in the right direction, and it is the way to go for Singapore. We are a country that promotes green living, and CNG improves your lifestyle overall because it is a cleaner fuel, and makes for a cleaner environment, with cleaner air."

So, what can Singaporeans look forward to?

"The first thing they can look forward to is higher cost savings on fuel consumption on the fuel they use because CNG is cheaper than petrol. Also, there is no carbon build up with CNG, so the engine's lifespan is actually extended as a result. So, cleaner car, cleaner environment and fuel cost savings in the future," said Mr Dass.

At the moment, the price for a basic CNG conversion kit starts from $2,000 for a mixer system and goes up two-fold for a sequential version. The sequential kit works the same way as traditional engines, which use a direct-injection system, and will only cause a power loss of roughly five percent. The mixer kit, on the other hand, results in a 15 to 20 per cent loss.

The most obvious perks of converting to CNG are reduced fuel consumption, cheaper fuel and a 40 per cent discount on the Open Market Value (OMV) of the car. It is expected that a car which does 25,000km to 30,000km in mileage annually will break even after 12 months.

A major problem though is that the only filling station is located on Jurong Island. However, plans are in the pipeline for a mainland station to be built, and possibly more to follow.