Fleets and Fuels NGV2010Roma June 10

The International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles Presents

NGV2010Roma is sponsored by Eni and hosted by NGV System Italia

Thursday, June 10

Pioneering Small Dual Fuel Van Grabs NGV2010Roma Attention

A Fiat Doblo van with a natural gas-diesel system is believed to be the first to bring dual fuel technology to the world of light vehicles.

“It is not a new idea. What is new is the approach, the technical approach,” says R&D manager Daniele Ceccarini, who reported on the project at The Power of Duel Fuel session Monday.

Landi Renzo has been working on a reconfiguration of the technology associated with NGV retrofits, and the applicability of dual fuel, carrying out simulations to study the various impacts on efficient fuel The dual fuel Doblo drew lots of NGV2010Roma scrutiny. utilization and durability.

The new kit is a result of multi-variable optimization, addressing identified performance issues including injection timing and boost control, using tools like CFD – combustion fluid dynamics.

Ceccarini says that the Landi Renzo dual-fuel system will lower particulate R&D chief Daniele Ceccarini matter and carbon dioxide emissions, and will reduce cost and maintenance cycles while increasing vehicle range – a win:win position for the end-user. Cost will be similar to standard CNG kits, Ceccarini says.

Italy’s Eni is the The kit has been designed to increase the life of older diesel main sponsor of engines too.

NGV2010Roma Stand D10 “We want to maximize the use of CNG. We want to minimize particulate matter,” Ceccarini says, noting that in Europe manufacturers are still waiting for EU homologation for dual-fuel vehicles. In Italy, he told F&F, there are waivers available to eliminate the certification problem.

The Landi Renzo light duty dual fuel van is at Stand C10.

Creating a Revolution in Transport

Cylinders, Cylinders!

No CNG cylinder, probably no NGV. Lots of tank providers are here, from all around the world.

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Fiat’s Broad Range NGV2010-Roma sponsor Fiat and its subsidiary Iveco show NGVs running the gamut from compact passenger cars to a full-size (12m) transit bus.

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CNG Hybrids?

There are a few, and Landi Renzo may emerge as a supplier of a whole new type.

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Eni’s Broad Range NGV2010-Roma main sponsor Eni is showing NGVs from four OEMs. Page 4

Chuncheon, A nyone?

NGV2012, the 13th International Conference & Exhibition on Natural Gas Vehicles, will be held in Chuncheon City, Korea (near Seoul), October 8-12, 2012.

Stand E19

www.showtimesdaily.com

Gilbarco is at an NGV show for the first time, showing its do-all dispenser.

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NGV2010Roma in Italy

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Cyl ind ers, Cyli nder s

Just as batteries are the weak link for electric vehicles — it’s a fundamental challenge to cram a large amount of energy safely in a small space — CNG cylinders are the fundamental challenge in NGVs. NGV2010Roma features a plethora of cylinder manufacturers.

I nfl ex Ty p e I Vs

Buenos Aires-based Inflex has partnered with Zoltek, a U.S. producer of carbon fiber, to manufacture Type IV CNG cylinders for European and U.S. markets.

Spacetech is the brandname for the new lightweight tanks. “We expect to be in production in November,” says Inflex VP (and owner) Juan Carlos Fracchia. Manufacturing will be in Cordoba, Argentina.

An unusual Spacetech feature, he told F&F, is that the cylinders will be made from plastic tubestock, which lends limitless flexibility in terms of product length. The first Type IV tanks from Inflex will be 375 millimeters (14 inches) in diameter.

Safety is a priority, Fracchia says. In Type I cylinders, “We have a safety record that no one can match. We have produced 4.5 million cylinders without a single accident.” He says he intends to take that record to lightweight tanks.

InflexArgentoil is at Juan Carlos Fracchia with Spacetech prototype Stand A19.

CNG T ype W h at?

Type I – all-metal, steel Type II – metal, almost always steel, hoopwrapped for strength, usually with glass fiber (open dome ends) Type III – metal liner, fully wrapped, almost always with carbon fiber Type IV – plastic liner, fully wrapped, almost always with carbon fiber

Niti n

India’s Nitin Cylinders has been in commercial production of Type I CNG cylinders for two years, and is at a world show for the first time this week: Stand D18.

“We have capacity for 500,000 pieces per annum,” says Nitin has CNG cylinder director Kunal Shah. approvals in 50 His principal countries, says director Kunal Shah. outlet thus far has been India, with sales too to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the UK. “We are targeting the South American market,” Shah told F&F. “The cost competitiveness will be far better, and we bring economies of scale, and quality.”

3B’ s St r ong Gl as s

Belgium’s 3B Fibreglass is promoting corrosion-resistant glass fiber that’s strong enough to use for Type III or Type IV cylinders without carbon fiber.

The HiPer-tex brand material yields tanks that “fill the gap between steel cylinders and carbon cylinders,” 3B says.

The Hoeilaart-based company says that while ECE R110-certified steel cylinders weigh 1 kilogram per liter of volume, its economical Type IVs weigh just .58 kg.

(Type IV carbon tanks weigh about .35 kg per liter, 3B says.)

3B is showing a Type IV glass fiber tank by Gastank Sweden at Stand A23.

Fab er in Tha il an d

Italy’s Faber, a large supplier of Type I CNG cylinders, is represented at NGV2010Roma by its subsidiary Chalybs Cylinders, of Thailand, where a cylinder manufacturing plant is planned. Initial

Creating a Revolution in Transport

Luxfer’s Mauro Camplani, Mark Lawday, Jorge Rivera, and Dave Myers.

Lux f er ’s Ne w E AFC

Luxfer is promoting its lightweight Type III cylinders at Stand E14, where it is showing a full size array of four 320-liter, ECER110-approved tanks for rooftop bus installation.

Luxfer Gas Cylinders is a unit of the UK’s Luxfer Group. It produces its own seamless spun aluminum liners for its tanks, all of which are manufactured in a wholly revamped facility in California.

Like other manufacturers of premium cylinders, Luxfer sees the world spread of NGVs from light to heavy vehicles as boosting the market for lightweight fuel vessels.

Luxfer has a joint venture in Mazzano, near Brescia, Italy for CNG tank assemblies and installations.

The 6,000-square-foot (1,820-squaremeter) Luxfer European Alternative Fuel Centre was established in 2009.

output will be Type I steel tanks, but all variants are possible, says export manager Luca Burelli. Stand A25.

M ore Cyli nde rs!

Among the other firms promoting CNG cylinders at NGV2010Roma are Brazil’s MAT Incendio (B23), China’s Zhejiang Jindun (B21), Sinoma Science & Technology (E11), and Beijing Tianhai Industry Company (B25), the Czech Republic’s Vítkovice Cylinders (B24), and Argentina’s Kioshi (D6).

Fleets & Fuels NGV2010Roma News reported on India’s Everest Kanto (Stand D14), Stako (A2), a new CNG tank entrant from Poland, and Xperion Alpha (D26), which is selling its Type IV tanks from Scandinavia to Singapore, in its earlier issues this week.

NGV2010Roma in Italy

June 10

3 Fi at ’ s Br o ad R an ge Fiat and its bus and truck subsidiary Iveco are showing a broad range of NGVs at NGV2010Roma. In the outdoor area, are a 50C14 “Natural Power” Iveco Eco Daily van with 3.0-liter engine, outfitted as a wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus, a Ducato Metropolis light utility truck, and a full-size, 12-meter (40-foot) Iveco Citelis transit bus with a 7.8-liter Cursor 8 CNG engine and eight CNG cylinders.

Heavy vehicle upfit specialist Fab IndustriesAFV Fleet Services has just signed a lease and is moving to a larger facility in Southern California. The new building doubles the firm’s covered work space, says GM Scott Lucero. It has 18 16-foot (4.9-meter) roll-up doors “and enough secure parking area for 100 refuse trucks,” Lucero told F&F.

Inside, at Stand B6, the Fiat Group is showing an Iveco Daily (hydrogen-CNG blend), a Punto Evo, and two engines: a 1.7-liter bi-fuel and the 7.8-liter bus engine (designated C78ENT G).

His boss, Fab-AFV president Ron Eickelman, is shown above, shopping for components here.

A F ir st fo r A us t r alia

Also shopping at NGV2010Roma is industry veteran Kevin Black of Australia’s OES CNG, which has just opened the first public access CNG station in Australia – dubbed “SmartGas” – in a Melbourne suburb.

‘We’ll open four in the next 12 months,’ he told F&F — and equipment will be needed.

www.showtimesdaily.com

He x ag on Ba nga lore

Hexagon Composites opened its first office in India earlier this year, in Bangalore.

India country manager Ravindra Vasisht says the company and its lightweight tanks will be a “game-changer in the Indian market.”

But as for all new markets, patience is required, Vasisht says. India’s highly competitive, yet government-controlled marketplace is attuned primarily to Type I and Type II fuel tanks and introduction of more expensive lightweight products will take some time.

The theme reiterated throughout the conference this week is “education, education, education.” Vasisht agrees.

“You can’t sell Type IV cylinders until you

sell the concept,” he says. He told F&F that he is confident that once the value of Type IV cylinders is more fully understood and appreciated, the momentum will be unstoppable.

India’s CNG buses generally can travel no more than 200 kilometers between fuelings, Vasisht says. Hexagon cylinders with higher pressures and lower weight mean increased payload and range of up to 550 kilometers — a convincing reason for change.

The Lincoln Composites unit of Norway-based Hexagon manufactures Type IV tanks in Lincoln, Nebraska. It recently opened a plant for Titan brand tanks for tube trailers, aimed at facilitating fuel distribution via mother-and-daughter arrangements in areas lacking a pipeline infrastructure.

Titan systems have been delivered to countries including the Dominican Republic

Ravindra Vasisht of Ragasgo/Hexagon and GreenerCities’ Mariarosa Baroni at Stand A10.

Sharing the GreenerCities space are Metatron and the Cavagna Group.

and Vietnam.

Hexagon is at NGV2010Roma as part of GreenerCities, described as an international project dedicated to the development of an ever growing demand for environmentally friendly eco-sustained vehicles, in public and private transportation.

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CN G Hybr ids!

CNG-fueled hybrids vehicles remain rare, but commercial offerings are emerging in the U.S. California’s ISE has long offered full-size transit buses with gasoline-fueled Ford V-10 engines, now a CNG variant is in the offing with Clean Energy’s BAF unit in line to do the upfits.

Ford’s three-valve 6.8-liter engine is being made available with hardened valves for gaseous fuel applications.

Quantum Technologies, also of Southern California, is stepping up the marketing of its Type IV CNG cylinders and is using them in conversion of Ford Hybrid Escape SUVs it hopes to have certified by both the U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board by this coming August.

G il ba r co E nt er s C NG Fu el i ng

Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a world leader in fuel dispensers, is now aiming at the alternative fuel market. The UK arm of the firm is making Gilbarco’s first-ever appearance at an NGV show at Stand D7.

“We decided last year to involve our firm in alternative fuels,” says Eric Denivelle, marketing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Gilbarco brings the ability to bring together fuel-metering and sale tallying Gilbarco is using and, more important, he says, to dispense multiple fuels WEH TK17s (D20) – gasoline, diesel, even propane-LPG, and CNG, from a single, clean dispenser unit. Gilbarco is using pistol-grip nozzles from WEH and coriolis metering units from Endress & Hauser (Stand D24).

On show here is the SK700-II Combi, and a separate paypoint. An SK700-II Standalone for CNG-only is available too. Gilbarco sees a European market of more than 1.2 million NGVs supplied by more than 3,400 fueling stations, “with numbers increasing rapidly.”

La n di R e nz o H y br id s !

Landi Renzo revealed last month that it is working on a retrofit kit to make conventional – or gaseous fuel vehicles – into hybrid electrics via the installation battery systems for regenerative braking and partial stator wheel motors that can fit in existing vehicle space.

CO2 emissions are expected to be reduced by as much as 30% compared with base vehicles, or 50% in the case of a CNG hybrid versus a conventional vehicle.

The Landi Renzo project is dubbed SIER, for sistema ibrido elettrico retrofit.

Landi Renzo is at Stand C10. www.showtimesdaily.com

N G VA Eu r o pe B ru s s el s

NGVA Europe has decided to open an office in Brussels. A formal announcement is expected this autumn. The association is at Stand E23.

The Fi nnish Li ne

NGVs are being discouraged by a government more interested in nuclear power and biofuels, Davide D’Angelantonio of Tuusula’s Oragas told F&F here yesterday. His firm has converted more than 200 vehicles since opening its doors in 2008, but new taxes that could, in the worst case, double the cost of CNG, have effectively shut him down. oragas.fi

NGV2010Roma main sponsor Eni is showing NGVs from four major OEMs at its Stand D10 in the center of the exhibit hall. From the front, counterclockwise: Mercedes B180 NGT, Fiat Fiorina Cargo (white), Opel Zafira, VW Passat.

Fleets & Fuels NGVRoma2010 News is published by Fleets & Fuels © August Pacific Press. All rights reserved.

Rich Kolodziej (NGVAmerica), IANGV President Brett Jarman, IANGV Executive Director David Perry, NGVRoma2010 News (dperry@iangv.org)

Rich Piellisch, Editor Fleets & Fuels NGVRoma2010 News (Rome mobile +39-345-014-2953; piellisch@fleetsandfuels.com) Fleets & Fuels, 357 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA; +1-415-896-5988; mobile +1-415-305-9050 www.fleetsandfuels.com; twitter.com/fleetsandfuels: #ngv2010roma; www.showtimesdaily.com

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