Yesterday, 15 car dealers from the district of Giessen and the Lahn-Dill district accepted the invitation of Stadtwerke Giessen AG (SWG) to an information event on natural gas vehicles and their market opportunities. Together with its upstream supplier, Ruhrgas AG from Essen, SWG provided information on the current status of natural gas-powered vehicles. Claus Obermeyer, technical consultant at Ruhrgas, began by explaining the topic of natural gas as a fuel. After all, driving with natural gas has a future. The refuelling station network was also part of the presentation. There are already over 400 natural gas refuelling stations in Germany.
Markus Mederer's Aral petrol station at Marburger Straße 229 in Giessen is one of them and also fills a blank spot on the map of the petrol station network. Marketing managers Martina Meyer from Ruhrgas and Ina Weller from the municipal utilities agreed that the natural gas fleet should be seen as a new market opportunity for the car trade. The unrivalled low price and the environmental benefits characterise natural gas as a fuel. For this reason, the Giessen-based energy and water supplier wants to actively promote natural gas as a fuel in the region. Weller presented the planned subsidy programme - for natural gas vehicles designed by the plant - to the car dealers. Those who opt for the SWG subsidy will only pay half price for the fuel at the natural gas filling station in Giessen for one year. Finally, SWG gave the car dealers a demonstration of the refuelling process at the petrol pump. This type of refuelling is not only quick, but also easy.
The time has finally come next Saturday. Together with Ruhrgas AG and the Aral Group, SWG will be opening the natural gas filling station. During the campaign day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., everything will revolve around natural gas as a fuel.