While natural gas vehicles (NGVs) are growing in leaps and bounds in US fleets through domestic fuel sources, they are actually significant in global markets, according to a Pike Research report. This is true for fleets and consumers due to the current high cost of gasoline and diesel, and the concerns over being addicted to petroleum-based fuels on environmental and energy security challenges. Outside the US, there are other regions with substantial supplies of natural gas, increasing its appeal as a transportation fuel. The vehicles are becoming more readily available as compressed natural gas vehicles in the passenger and light truck markets, with governments, fleet managers, and private consumers as target markets.
The high volume of use in Pakistan and the growing markets in the China and Thai markets have made the Asia Pacific region the largest one. The markets in Pakistan and Ukraine will see volatility due to shifting focus from imported CNG. Smaller markets where growth has been strong will likely start to see market saturation in the next several years followed by slowing market sales. In North America, the market is largely focused on fleet vehicles such as vans, pickup trucks, and cars used for couriers and taxis. In Europe, Italy is one of the largest markets with a variety of vehicles used by both consumers and fleets, while other countries with small numbers of NGVs are currently focused on building CNG refueling infrastructure to increase the appeal of NGVs for fleets and public usage.
