Natural gas vehicles continue to gain ground throughout Germany. This trend is also confirmed by the steadily increasing number of vehicles registered in the district of Giessen. Last Friday, Ina Weller, Head of Marketing at Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG), presented the 150th petrol voucher for a newly registered natural gas vehicle. The happy owners of the natural gas-powered car are Markus and Bettina Leukel from Staufenberg. The Leukel family are convinced by natural gas cars and have recently become the proud owners of a VW Caddy Life EcoFuel with a displacement of 1,984 cc and an output of 80 KW. The Leukel family commented on their motivation: "For us, natural gas is the favourite fuel. Natural gas is unrivalled in terms of price and protects the environment. As a driver of a natural gas vehicle, you can look at the price display much more relaxed when refuelling. With natural gas in the tank, we save around 50 per cent compared to petrol and still around 30 per cent compared to diesel. Not only the unrivalled low price, but also the environmental benefits characterise natural gas as a fuel. Natural gas vehicles emit around 20 per cent less carbon dioxide than a petrol car. In contrast to diesel cars, they emit no particulate matter and considerably less nitrogen oxide.
Markus Leukel and his wife decided to buy a natural gas vehicle because of the constantly rising petrol prices. As a visitor to the 150th anniversary of the gas supply - the SWG Winter Light - in the Hessenhallen in Giessen, the Staufenberg resident got the ball rolling on buying a car. The prospective buyer was convinced by the Volkswagen dealer Auto-Häuser of the advantages of the natural gas-powered VW Caddy. As a musician, Markus Leukel is often on tour and always with his complete music equipment. The Leukel family decided in favour of the Caddy because of the generous loading area and the enormous range that can be covered with the vehicle.
Successful subsidy programme
Thanks to SWG's subsidy programme, natural gas drivers can even fill up for half the price for a whole year. Anyone who bought a natural gas car by 31 December last year was able to benefit from SWG's subsidy programme. In the first year of the subsidy programme, 19 drivers took advantage of this benefit. In 2005, 55 petrol vouchers for natural gas cars were added. SWG issued 80 petrol vouchers to natural gas drivers last year.
Economical and environmentally friendly mobility
More and more people are convinced by natural gas as a fuel. This is also shown by the sales statistics of Markus Mederer's ARAL petrol station. The volume of gas dispensed has increased 10-fold in almost three years. In the first year after the municipal utility company launched the natural gas pump in April 2004, the petrol station owner sold around 59,500 kilograms (kg) of natural gas. In 2005, more than 182,000 kg of the alternative fuel were refuelled. Last year, the Giessen natural gas filling station sold over 273,000 kg. In summer 2006, the municipal utilities had a natural gas pump installed on the SWG premises for their natural gas-powered city buses.
Information for everyone
Natural gas cars are a real alternative to petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. A visit to the car dealership is certainly worthwhile for anyone interested. Many employees of the local car dealerships are already up to date on natural gas vehicles thanks to the training measures provided by SWG. Of course, visitors can also obtain information and useful tips at the infoCentre on the market square. The energy experts are available to answer questions from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm and on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm.