A unique model of pipe less natural gas fuel stations will be introduced in Dubai as part of its plans to implement a cost-effective and environment-friendly natural gas transportation solutions. Government vehicles will first switch to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), followed by private cars in the emirate to reduce carbon emission and cut fuel costs, officials revealed on Tuesday after the Dubai Municipality (DM) unveiled its pilot project of converting five of its vehicles to use natural gas.
Motorists in Dubai will be able to choose from 15 stations to fill up their converted cars with compressed natural gas — an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol or diesel — in the next five years, bringing down their carbon footprint at the same time.
A comparison between two Nissan Altima cars powered with equal quantities of fuel found that the car on petrol produced 138kg of Co2 over 420km compared to the car running on CNG which travelled 105km and produced 107kg of CO2.
"That 31kg of CO2 makes tremendous savings over the year, 136797.8 metric tons of CO2 would be saved annually," said RTA Official.
Several car manufacturers such as Honda, Mercedes, Volvo or Fiat all produce clean gas vehicles, added Khan, however it all depends on the dealerships in the UAE whether or not those specific cars will be imported here to give buyers a choice.
The public can have great economic benefits out of it as CNG is more than 30 per cent cheaper than petrol. If somebody converts his car, he can get back the money he spent for it in less than a year, according to RTA official.
The Roads and Transport Authority has introduced a fleet of CNG-powered abras and hybrid taxis. The government’s plan is to convert at least 25 per cent of the public transport vehicles to use natural gas. Once the government departments lead the way and spread awareness, the project will target private vehicles. “The daughter depots can also act as filling stations for private vehicles. It takes hardly Dh6,000 to Dh7,000 for converting a normal vehicle to use CNG.
Last month, Abu Dhabi announced plans to convert over 500 government vehicles and taxis to natural gas by the end of 2012. Emirates Transport, the UAE Federal government corporation, has three conversion centres across Abu Dhabi, in which some 18 to 22 vehicles are converted to CNG mode per day (at all three centres). Abu Dhabi Island’s Khalifa City (A) Conversion Centre is the biggest in the UAE and has 12 vehicle conversion bays, while the second centre is in Manaseer in the Capital and the third in Zakheer area in Al Ain.
Besides these, two more centres are operated, by C.G. Tech (Compressed Gas Technology) — one in the Mushrif area in the Capital and the other at Al Dhafra in Musaffah on Tarif Road.
Conversion cost & Safety
The total cost of conversion per vehicle from gasoline to CNG is Dh7,400 for 4-cylinder vehicle, Dh8,000 for 6-cylinder and Dh9,400 for 8-cylinder vehicles, Mahir Al Sayed Al Rafaee, manager for CNG Centre, said.
After the conversion of a vehicle, a TUV (Third Party Inspector) inspects it and does the Gas System Installation Test and examines the safety of the system. After everything is cleared, the inspector issues the certificate for each vehicle confirming that the vehicle is safe to run on the road, Al Rafaee said.
The converted vehicles are safer as all components used are as per the ECER110/115 (an international code for conversion) and the cylinders have passed the bonfire test (gas cylinder) and penetration test to maintain the high safety level, Al Jerman said.
CNG cost is Dh1.32 per cubic metre while the tank of a 4-cylinder vehicle gets full in Dh50-60, whereas Gasoline (special) costs Dh1.72 per litre.
© Khaleej Times
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