Diesel, gasoline or electric drive? This question is driving car buyers today more than ever. And yet, what has been treated rather neglected for decades is still one of the cleanest and cheapest alternatives: natural gas! When purchasing two new vehicles, Visuprojekt took this into consideration and chose a car that is equipped with a gas and petrol tank. An interesting e-vehicle for the regional area also complements the environmentally conscious vehicle fleet.
Gaseous fuels offer clear advantages as soon as strict limit values for air pollutants and greenhouse gases apply. This is because, compared to petrol, the combustion of CNG natural gas produces 25 percent less CO2while, in contrast to diesel, nitrogen oxide levels are so low that they are barely measurable. Natural gas is artificially produced methane and is usually made from residual and waste materials, liquid manure or organic waste. When it is burned, only as much CO2 is released as the organic raw materials used to produce it have previously removed from the atmosphere. Nevertheless, CNG natural gas cars still lead a shadowy existence in Germany. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, Germans only registered 2004 new natural gas cars between January and September 2017 - over 40 percent fewer than in the same period last year.
Possible solution bivalent drive
"After two years of discussions about diesel engines, and out of our own interest in vehicles with alternative drive technologies, we collected data and tested various vehicles," says Visuprojekt Managing Director Maik Kunzelmann. The result was that two drive types were shortlisted: one vehicle with a fuel mix of natural gas and petrol, the other an electric car. With the Skoda Octavia CNG the decision was made in favor of a model with a bivalent drive, which can be operated with a 1.4 TSI engine using both natural gas and petrol. Maik Kunzelmann: "That's a real highlight. It makes a total distance of over 1200 km possible if you empty the gas tank and petrol tank one after the other." As gas operation is much more environmentally friendly, the aim at Vision project but mainly use this one. "Skoda also offers a very good price-performance ratio here," says Maik Kunzelmann. "And in this context, I would also like to thank Mr. Özan from Car dealership Badermainzl Gmbh & Co Kg thank you. He made it possible for us to get the Skoda a little earlier, as a pre-production model that was intended for the dealership was passed on to us directly"
