More cars being retrofitted with CNG
More private cars were fitted with Compressed Natural Gas or CNG
kits last month compared to the first five months of this year.
Cars fitted with such kits can run on both petrol and natural
gas.
Latest figures from the Land Transport Authority show that there
are just over 1,000 such bi-fuel cars on the road last month.
This is a jump of nearly 300 from the month of May, and four
times as many compared to the whole of last year.
The rate of increase of CNG cars also outpaces that of hybrids
which run on petrol and electricity.
While an average of 100 hybrid cars were added to the roads
every month from January to June this year,
bi-fuel car additions rose from an initial average of 50 to
later 200 then 300 last month.
Yet both these car types represent but 0.5 percent of the total
private car population here, which now stands at 530,000.
The figures are borne out by CNG retrofitting companies like C
Melchers, which are seeing a backlog of customer requests and have
hired more manpower to keep up with conversion demands.
They say demand is set to rise when two more CNG refuelling
stations are built later this year, in addition to the current
three.
But with natural gas prices rising in tandem with petrol
increases, as well as CNG's diminishing supply from its growing
popularity,
Environment Economist Tomoki Fujii feels natural gas is not the
best alternative to oil in the long-term.
So while it makes sense for buses and taxis to run on CNG, for
private car owners, the Singapore Management University Assistant
Professor feels the best way to go green is still to use less
petrol whenever possible.
"For the average commuters it takes a long time to get back the
returns even if the price of oil continues to rise faster than CNG
so it still makes sense to use ordinary cars, this includes cars
like hybrids and cars that operate on gasoline." --938Live