Excerpts from
Thais Lead Drive to Natural-Gas Cars
Wall Street JournalOctober 21, 2008
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An unusual alliance of energy tycoons and environmentalists is trying - with limited success - to persuade skeptical Americans to start running their cars on natural gas instead of gasoline.
But in many developing countries, the switch is already on, driven by the volatile price of gasoline, the accessibility of natural gas, hefty consumer subsidies and concern about the environment.
In Thailand, drivers have converted or purchased more than 40,000 natural-gas-burning cars and trucks in the past six months. Local energy officials say they expect the number of natural-gas cars - which in many cases are able to run on gasoline as well as natural gas - to nearly triple by 2012 to 330,000.
Natural-gas-powered cars are among the hottest sellers in Bangkok, where long queues of drivers line up to buy the fuel every day. Kanika Kamdee, a 50-year-old psychology professor, paid 60,000 Thai baht ($1,795) last year to modify her Nissan sedan so that it could use natural gas.
The lower price for natural gas at the pump here has meant "big savings" in her monthly fuel bill, she says. She paid just 102 baht, or $3.05, to fill her tank one recent afternoon -- enough fuel to travel 93 miles.
In the U.S., one big booster, Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens, has blanketed the airwaves with ads calling for more natural-gas vehicles to help curb America's use of imported crude.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and California have pitched plans calling for cash rebates and other incentives for people to purchase natural-gas vehicles. Honda Moytor Co. now offers a natural-gas-fueled car in the U.S. market. But drivers in the U.S. -- the world's biggest oil consumer -- still haven't embraced the new fuel, and so far Honda is building only a couple of thousand natural-gas Civics a year.
Thailand's experience may offer some lessons on how to increase demand. Like the U.S., the Southeast Asian nation of 65 million people imports large amounts of crude oil - about 800,000 barrels a day. But, also like the U.S., it has generous supplies of natural gas that could be tapped to power cars and trucks.
As oil prices climbed in 2004, the Thai government stepped up efforts to promote alternative fuels, including ethanol and compressed natural gas, or CNG.
Thailand also took a critical step that would be hard to duplicate in the U.S.: It pressed its state-controlled oil company, PTT PCL, to fix the price of CNG at roughly 25 cents, a kilogram. While it's difficult to make direct comparisons with conventional gasoline -- which in Thailand is measured in liters -- CNG's fixed price made it much cheaper than gasoline and diesel fuel.
But in many developing countries, the switch is already on, driven by the volatile price of gasoline, the accessibility of natural gas, hefty consumer subsidies and concern about the environment.
In Thailand, drivers have converted or purchased more than 40,000 natural-gas-burning cars and trucks in the past six months. Local energy officials say they expect the number of natural-gas cars - which in many cases are able to run on gasoline as well as natural gas - to nearly triple by 2012 to 330,000.
Natural-gas-powered cars are among the hottest sellers in Bangkok, where long queues of drivers line up to buy the fuel every day. Kanika Kamdee, a 50-year-old psychology professor, paid 60,000 Thai baht ($1,795) last year to modify her Nissan sedan so that it could use natural gas.
The lower price for natural gas at the pump here has meant "big savings" in her monthly fuel bill, she says. She paid just 102 baht, or $3.05, to fill her tank one recent afternoon -- enough fuel to travel 93 miles.
In the U.S., one big booster, Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens, has blanketed the airwaves with ads calling for more natural-gas vehicles to help curb America's use of imported crude.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and California have pitched plans calling for cash rebates and other incentives for people to purchase natural-gas vehicles. Honda Moytor Co. now offers a natural-gas-fueled car in the U.S. market. But drivers in the U.S. -- the world's biggest oil consumer -- still haven't embraced the new fuel, and so far Honda is building only a couple of thousand natural-gas Civics a year.
Thailand's experience may offer some lessons on how to increase demand. Like the U.S., the Southeast Asian nation of 65 million people imports large amounts of crude oil - about 800,000 barrels a day. But, also like the U.S., it has generous supplies of natural gas that could be tapped to power cars and trucks.
As oil prices climbed in 2004, the Thai government stepped up efforts to promote alternative fuels, including ethanol and compressed natural gas, or CNG.
Thailand also took a critical step that would be hard to duplicate in the U.S.: It pressed its state-controlled oil company, PTT PCL, to fix the price of CNG at roughly 25 cents, a kilogram. While it's difficult to make direct comparisons with conventional gasoline -- which in Thailand is measured in liters -- CNG's fixed price made it much cheaper than gasoline and diesel fuel.
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Photo location: Trasimeno lake, Umbria, Italy
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