Thirteen Projects Funded for Natural Gas-Fueled Vehicles
The Department of Energy is providing $30 million to them for projects such as an at-home natural gas refueling system.
The U.S. Energy Department announced it is giving $30 million to support 13 research projects trying to overcome barriers to widespread use of natural gas to fuel cars and trucks. One of them is General Electric Global Research, which will receive $1.8 million to develop an at-home natural gas refueling system.
Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman announced them at a meeting in Houston of the National Petroleum Council. DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency is the lead unit behind the new Methane Opportunities for Vehicular Energy program to develop light, affordable natural gas tanks for vehicles and compressors that can efficiently fuel a natural gas vehicle at home.
"These innovative projects will leverage the ingenuity of U.S. scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies to fuel cars with natural gas," Poneman said. "These projects could transform America’s energy infrastructure and economy by utilizing domestic energy sources to power our vehicles, reducing our reliance on imported oil, and increasing American energy security."
Current natural gas vehicle technologies require tanks that can withstand high pressures and are either too large or too expensive to be suitable for smaller passenger vehicles. The new projects aim to remove some of these barriers. Selected projects are located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin and are listed here.