Ever thought of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel for logistics and transportation? Hitherto, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has found more favor, especially for urban transportation fleets alongside electric vehicles.
However, given that LNG offers three to four times more range than CNG, it is rapidly catching the eye of fleet managers and engineers. In the wake of International Maritime Organisation 2020 low sulfur cap (IMO 2020), European shipping companies are already looking at LNG as a fuel medium, and many central European countries are examining scenarios in which LNG powered ground transportation could seriously take-off.
These include Austria – a landlocked pivotal transportation hub in Central and Eastern Europe. Among the professionals leading the charge is Rudolf Huber, President and Founder of LNG Austria, a non-profit advocacy organization promoting the introduction and expansion of LNG.
Austria’s first LNG fueling station opened in Ennshafen, Upper Austria in September 2017
Karin Lohberger Photography
“The journey is just beginning – Austria’s first LNG fueling station opened in Ennshafen, Upper Austria in September 2017, followed by a second one in Feldkirchen bei Graz (Styria). If profound changes have to take place to get European transportation fleets to adopt LNG and bring fleet managers around to this competitive, clean and affordable fuel – Austria, a strategic location in the heart of Europe, has to be part of it.”
Huber says a simple look at the map of Europe in general, and Central and Eastern Europe in particular, would reveal that a potential LNG drive initiated in Austria, in tandem with Germany and Poland, would open LNG fueled pathways between Northern Europe and the Balkans.
“The logic is simple – savings worth millions of euros for transport and logistics firms both large and small, with every LNG fueled truck producing 20% less CO2 emissions and being cheaper to run than diesel, predicated on a fuel medium of which there is no shortage and is [currently] available at competitive pricing.”
Huber says truckers remain the primary focus with Austria’s near neighborhood, especially the Balkans “there for the taking.”
Supply infrastructure sounds convincing so far in its own understated way. According RAG, the Austrian company credited with opening the country’s first LNG fueling station, over 12 tons of LNG can be kept in storage at the Ennshafen site.
That is equivalent to the amount required to refuel between 60 and 90 trucks. Much of the gas is sourced from RAG’s gas reservoirs in Austria, and is processed at the company’s LNG plant in Gampern, Upper Austria. The plant produces over two tons of LNG per day which is dispatched to the Ennshafen LNG station. This is enough to refuel nearly 15 LNG-powered trucks per day.
“At the moment, both stations in Austria are demonstrating what can be done. When the service grid expands, few in Austria would be averse to importing LNG for meeting ground transportation requirements via a combination of shipped and piped gas.”
The network and the grid is expanding in Germany with similar moves surfacing in Italy for instance. Beyond the near region, France and the Netherlands have also opened their first LNG fueling stations.
LNG could offer viable low-carbon transportation fuel alternative, says Rudolf Huber
Leitner Mineralöle GmbH
“So the vision is getting more compelling. Just look at what China has achieved and the Americans are pretty serious about it too,” Huber adds.
According to the International Energy Agency, China has a fleet of 330,000 LNG trucks and around 2,000 LNG fueling stations. In the USA, around 25,000 trucks LNG trucks are in operation serviced by around 120 filling stations.
Competition could arrive in the shape of electric vehicles and even hydrogen, but Huber insists LNG fueling infrastructure would be the “easiest and fastest” one to establish in the continent’s march to a low-carbon economy, and general move away from diesel.
“Of course I am biased but hydrogen is a long, long way off from emerging as a viable fuel for truckers, while electric vehicles have range issues. A straight swap for LNG from diesel is the logical choice.”
At moment, be it hydrogen, electric charging points or LNG filling stations – all three require careful planning by drivers, including an effort to locate refueling hubs well in advance of embarking on their journeys. Huber is hoping “LNG will win the battle to become commonplace” within Austria and wider Europe as the transportation fuel mix moves to a low-carbon setting.
