In France, mini fuel pumps will soon adorn homes

By Corrie Salientes
NarismaInquirer
10/02/2007

Want to gas up at home with your very own mini refueling station? This may not be such a far-fetched idea anymore. Some countries have started to adopt this technology in support of efforts to encourage people to shift to natural gas-fed vehicles for cleaner environment.

Showcased in an exhibit during the 2007 Gas Conference in Paris held last month were a CNG (compressed natural gas) mini refueling station for homes -- only about double the size of a residential circuit breaker -- and a prototype of a CNG-fed Toyota Prius II. Both were innovations of Gaz de France, a major player in Europe’s natural gas sector.

Gaz de France’s mini home refueling station was born out of necessity. France, like several other European countries, has decided to go full blast in the promotion of natural gas use not only for power generation but also for transport fuel.

Commitments

But unlike Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, France does not have a chain of public pump stations for natural gas, although oil companies and distributors committed to install at least 300 natural gas filling stations between now and 2010. This plan formed part of the undertaking entered into in 2005 by members of the French Association for Natural Gas Vehicles. Under the agreement, vehicle manufacturers will develop four-seater car models. The government will then provide a permanent tax incentive system, while Gaz de France will establish conditions that will lead to the adoption of a home refueling system.

In line with this commitment, Gaz de France started offering home natural gas packages, but only to customers whose houses were connected to existing natural gas network. The mini gas refueling unit is not even for sale. It is leased to customers by the company.

Practical, easy to use

The mini station -- which compresses the gas to 200 bar, equivalent to the pressure of air in a scuba diver’s air cylinder -- may be installed by trained personnel in a private garage, garden or driveway. It is checked regularly by technicians, and is guaranteed by Gaz de France.

Once the unit is set up, fixed to a wall and connected to the gas network, all the customer needs to do is to connect the loading nozzle to the car and press the “on” button. It automatically stops operating when the tank is full. A 50-km drive will need about three hours of refueling. A customer pays a basic monthly charge of 29 euros for the equipment and home refueling service, plus the cost of the gas consumed. Under the Gaz de France package, natural gas fuel costs 0.58 euro per cubic meter, equivalent to a liter of 98 octane super gasoline. This, according to the company, is about 50 percent less than the price of gasoline and 40 percent lower than that of diesel.

Perks

While vehicle makers, gas distributors and energy companies in France provide all the necessary tools that will encourage people to shift to natural gas as transport fuel, the French government sweetens the package and throws in tax incentives both to individual and corporate users.

A 2,000-euro tax credit is given to an individual user at the time of the original purchase of CNG-powered vehicle. The amount goes up to 3,000 euros if the purchase of the CNG-powered car is accompanied by the destruction (by an authorized agency) of a gasoline-run private car registered before Jan. 1, 1997 and acquired at least 12 months prior to the date of destruction.
Companies shifting to vehicles operating solely or partially on natural gas get tax exemption on the purchase of the units and are allowed a 100-percent recovery of value-added tax on fuels.

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