Richard Rudman is BG's manager of Original Equipment Manufacturer Relationships, charged with generating motor manufacturer interest in gas as a motor fuel. He says the technology arm of the gas pipelines and production group will be conducting field trials early next year of prototype homefill units, and plans full commercial operation in three years. With homefill and the bi-fuel gas and gasoline Elise, BG aims to demonstrate that gas power isn't just for the short haul bus, taxi and fleets of municipal waste truck fleets to which it has been restricted so far. There is apparently a tiny loss of performance that was completely imperceptible to this driver. That's why we are pushing as hard as we can to get the home refuelling cheap enough.
Researchers expect further improvements.
Although there are more than 1.05 million Natural Gas Vehicles in the world, most are still holed up in niche markets, hobbled by the absence of refuelling points on station forecourts. BG's home refuellers, about the size of a small suitcase and attachable to domestic gas supplies, are already being tested in BG laboratories. To make the technology cheap, BG will sacrifice filling speed, so the homefill units are being designed for lower pressure overnight refuelling that takes several hours. A more traditional user, doing longer trips, would save 10-15 percent. Rudman says the real breakthrough CNG needs is for a real roadside station forecourt infrastructure to take off, but he hopes homefill might just push a Ford or a General Motors to put in some money and break the vicious circle.