NGV Lobby Welcomes UK Budget

An industry group lobbying for greater use of natural gas- and LNG-fuelled vehicles on UK roads has welcomed the government's October 29 budget.

Natural Gas Vehicle Network (NGVN) wants the difference between alternative and main road fuel duty rates to be maintained - and says the government has responded positively by extending this benefit in NGVs' favour by ten years to 2032 "in order to support the decarbonisation of the UK transport sector, subject to a review in 2024."

Mike Foster, NGVN chief executive, said that heavy goods vehicles (trucks) in the UK "represent just 2% of vehicles on the road but contribute 17% of transport carbon emissions. This needs to change. Keeping gas prices lower than diesel is exactly the sort of encouragement fleet managers need to make that essential switch, from dirty diesel to cleaner gas." He added that natural gas can achieve carbon savings of 20%, with those for biomethane at over 80%, relative to diesel.

That message was recently delivered to government in a report by Frontier Economics on NGVN's behalf, added Foster.  NGW requested a copy of the report at the time but has yet to receive one.

The UK government will allow cities like Birmingham and Leeds to introduce congestion charging from 2020 in order to keep pollutive trucks and buses out of city centres, and NGVN hopes that their plans will promote greater use of NGV trucks. Elsewhere in Europe, cities are being allowed to introduce charges on dirty diesel trucks, with Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Berlin expected to be to the fore in Germany where the federal government recently shifted its position in favour of such cities. (Banner photo showing LNG delivery truck is courtesy of Calor, part of SHV)