Developing the market for natural gas and biogas as a vehicle fuel on a regional level (MADEGASCAR)

Panel: Panel 6. Energy efficiency in transport and mobility

Authors:
Bettina Emmerling, Austrian Energy Agency
Reinhard Jellinek, Austrian Energy Agency
Birgit Baumgartner, Graz Energy Agency

Abstract

Although natural gas as a car fuel is a more environmentally clean alternative to gasoline or diesel and gas is considerable cheaper and much safer than other fuels, costumers are still suspicious of alternative fuels and vehicles. The main reasons are a lack of awareness and information on the consumer side, as well as a low information and acceptance level among car dealers and service stations. Therefore the MADEGASCAR project directly addresses major barriers by specific actions.

The project MADEGASCAR (M a rket d e velopment for gas driven cars including supply and distribution of biogas), co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme of the European commission, aims at developing the market for natural gas vehicles by addressing target groups at the demand side (private car owners, fleet managers) as well as strengthening the supply and distribution infrastructure for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) municipalities, car dealers, owners of fuel stations, natural gas and biogas suppliers) in 10 participating partner countries.

The Unique Selling Point of the MADEGASCAR project is deployment in several regional areas instead of sole basic research. Country specific action plans, which are developed and implemented in the project, will have direct impact on regional markets but also affect car manufacturers and national regulations, resulting in long term changes.

The main ambition of the MADEGASCAR project is to increase the number of gas vehicles in the partner regions by 50%.