Greentech Lead
U.S: Asia Pacific region is rapidly becoming the world’s largest
market for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) mainly driven by the strong
growth in markets such as Thailand, India, and China.
Natural gas
vehicles produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional
gasoline engines and run on fuel that is much cheaper than gasoline.
While many
markets in Europe and Latin America continue to struggle with growing
refueling infrastructure fast enough to meet the needs of both
consumers and fleets, the adoption of NGVs is still growing rapidly.
North America,
however, continues to lag in this sector. Although sales of NGVs in
the region will grow at a healthy 10.2 percent compound annual growth
rate from 2012 to 2019, the study finds, annual sales will still
reach only 37,000 by 2019 — just over one percent of the world
market, which is expected to reach 3.2 million in annual sales in
that year, the report, “Light Duty Natural Gas
Vehicles,” said.
“Sales of
NGVs will grow strongly in the next several years in North America,
but the market is starting from a very small base of about 16,000
vehicles a year,” says senior research analyst Dave Hurst. “The
lack of widely available refueling stations, the absence of
government incentives for purchasers, and low consumer awareness of
NGVs will keep the North American market to just a fraction of the
total world market.”
As in Europe
and parts of Asia Pacific, the growing infrastructure for NGVs in
North America remains focused on servicing fleet customers. This will
likely limit the growth of NGV passenger cars both in North America
and other markets, according to the report.