【英语科技】天然气汽车在意想不到的地方生根发芽

Here's a question few people are likely to answer correctly: Which countries have the most natural-gas vehicles on the road?

Here's a hint: The list doesn't include the U.S. or any other industrialized nation.

Of the 11.4 million natural-gas vehicles currently in use world-wide, most can be found in the developing world, according the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, an industry body. Pakistan led with way with 2.3 million as of December 2009, while Iran, Argentina, Brazil and India together accounted for six million more. In China, the number has more than doubled since 2007 to around half a million.

Made by units of General Motors Co.,Suzuki Motor Corp., Fiat SpA and regional auto maker Iran Khodro Co., among others, vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, or CNG, are cleaner than their gasoline-powered alternatives.

But that isn't the only thing driving their growth in emerging markets. Tight gasoline-refining capacity, abundant reserves of natural gas and -- in the case of Iran -- the risk of new trade sanctions that could severely dent its gasoline supply have also led governments to support the technology.

It's a different story in the U.S., where very few natural-gas vehicles have been sold, even though the technology has been around since the 1930s and natural gas is in abundant supply.

The U.S. had just 110,000 of these vehicles on the road as of last year, according to industry estimates, and compressed natural gas accounted for a meager 0.1% of all on-road transportation fuel used in 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Experts say one of the reasons natural-gas vehicles haven't caught on is because the U.S. lacks a widespread network of refueling stations. Indeed, most of the natural-gas vehicles in use today are in government or corporate fleets that have centralized refueling stations. New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates a fleet of CNG-powered buses, for example, while Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. use CNG-powered vans.

In addition, gasoline remains relatively inexpensive in the U.S., so there is little economic incentive to switch.

Honda Motor Co. sells a CNG-powered vehicle -- the Honda Civic GX -- to U.S. consumers in parts of the country. But with a list price starting at more than $25,000, it costs about $3,000 more than a similar conventional Civic, according to Honda. And while existing gasoline vehicles can be converted to use natural gas, it is an expensive process: A retrofit typically costs $12,500 to $22,500, according to NGV America, an industry body.

Supporters of CNG technology, including T. Boone Pickens, an energy investor who holds stakes in natural-gas companies, say the federal government should do more to encourage development of natural-gas vehicles as a way to fight pollution and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

In coming months, the U.S. Senate is set to examine a new version of a bill providing rebates to buyers of natural-gas vehicles and grants to companies that build natural-gas refueling stations. (A vote planned for Nov. 17 was canceled.)

While the bill's fate is far from certain, Lazard Capital Markets said in a July report that there are signs of a 'growing market momentum' for CNG vehicles in the U.S. In addition to progress on the proposed legislation, it cited a decision by U.S. auto makers such as GM to offer CNG-ready vehicles in their home market and support from local natural-gas producers to help convert corporate fleets and set up refueling stations.

Government support -- and mandates -- have been key to the adoption of natural-gas vehicles in the developing world.

Local authorities in India and Pakistan, for example, have made the use of compressed natural gas mandatory for public-transport vehicles. And from Iran to Pakistan, subsidized prices for the fuel are, on average, half the price of gasoline.

Iran has seen the fastest growth in natural-gas vehicles. They accounted for 1.7 million of the country's 11 million vehicles at the end of 2009, up from about 115,000 in 2006. That number is expected to hit 2.5 million vehicles by early 2012, according to a spokesman for an international conference on CNG technologies that took place in Tehran this year.

One driver for the switch has been the need to replace aging, highly inefficient cars that have led to high levels of pollution in Tehran.
But international sanctions (or the threat of them) have also helped. 'Developing CNG industries is one of the most important policies to make Iran invulnerable against the risk of more sanctions,' says Mahmoudreza Bagherbeik, who helps manage the government's CNG program.

Because of a lack of refining capacity, Iran has long depended on imports for almost half of its gasoline consumption. Over the summer, when Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology prompted the U.S. to adopt sanctions targeting the supply of gasoline to Iran, Iran responded by temporarily converting petrochemical plants into refineries and turning more of its car-refueling infrastructure to CNG.

The transition to CNG was feasible because Iran holds the world's second-largest natural-gas reserves, behind Russia, and can rely on a manufacturing base that includes the Middle East's largest domestic car industry. In addition, Iran has built 1,500 CNG refueling stations and expects to have 2,400 in place by early 2012, according to the conference spokesman.

Iran's push into natural gas-powered vehicles, however, has highlighted some of their drawbacks. For starters, there are some safety fears. While industry experts say properly installed CNG systems are safer than their gasoline-powered counterparts, there is a thriving market across Iran for illegal conversions for cars originally running on gasoline. Substandard vehicles such as these, which typically involve the use of cylinders meant for other gases such as oxygen, have been linked to deaths in parts of Asia.

Most CNG vehicles also have a shorter operating range than gasoline vehicles -- 15% less, according to the National Iranian Gas Co. That, combined with a still-insufficient network of fueling stations, means Iranian drivers regularly pay a price for their nation's CNG success -- namely, a long wait in line to refuel.

Here's a question few people are likely to answer correctly: Which countries have the most natural-gas vehicles on the road?

这是一个很少有人能答对的问题：在哪些国家，天然气汽车的数量最多？

我来给个提示：这些国家不包括美国，也不包括其他所有工业化强国。

根 行业组织“国际天然气车辆协会”(International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles)的数 ，全球目前有1140万辆天然气汽车投入使用，而绝大多数都分布在发展中国家。巴基斯坦居于首位，截止到2009年12月，共有230万辆；而伊朗、阿根廷、巴西和印度加起来超过600万辆。在中国，天然气汽车的数量自2007年以来翻了一番多，约为50万辆。

使用压缩天然气(CNG)的汽车由通用汽车(Motors Co.)、铃木汽车(Suzuki Motor Corp.)、菲亚特(Fiat SpA)以及区域型制造商伊朗霍德罗汽车公司(Iran Khodro Co.)等企业生产，这 汽车比使用汽油的汽车更清 。

但清 并不是让天然气汽车在新兴市场取得长足增长的唯一原因。导致这些国家的政府支持天然气技术的因素还有：汽油提炼量不足，天然气储量丰富，对于伊朗而言，还有遭到新一轮贸易制裁可能严重制约其汽油供应的风险，等等。

长势渐猛？

在美国，情况截然不同。虽然天然气技术在20世纪30年代就已出现，而且美国天然气储量丰富，但天然气汽车的销量很少。

行业估计，截至2009年，美国约有11万辆天然气汽车投入使用；而根 美国能源信息管理局(Energy Information Administration)的统计，压缩天然气的使用量仅占2009年美国公路交通所使用燃料总量的0.1%。

专家表示，天然气车辆被排挤在主流之外的原因在于，美国缺少一个分布广泛的加气站 络。事实上，美国路面上大多数的天然气车辆都归属于拥有集中加气站的政府或企业车队。举例而言，纽约的城市运输署(Metropolitan Transportation Authority)运营天然气公交车，而电信企业Verizon Communications Inc.和美国电话电报公司(AT&T Inc.)使用以天然气为动力的货车。

此外，汽油在美国相对便宜一些，因此转换为天然气没什么经济上的好处。

本田汽车公司(Honda Motor Co.)在美国部分市场销售一款天然气汽车——本田思域GX(Honda Civic GX)，但本田方面称，这款汽车的官方起 超过2.5万美元，比普通的思域汽车贵3,000美元左右。行业组织NGV America表示，虽然使用汽油的车辆可以改为天然气驱动，但改造成本很高，一般要花12,500到22,500美元。

天然气技术的支持者表示，美国联邦政府应在鼓励天然气车辆的发展方面有更大作为，以此来治理污染和减少美国对外国石油的依赖程度。能源板块的投资者皮肯斯(T. Boone Pickens)也是支持者之一，他拥有不少天然气公司的股份。

未来数月内，美国参议院计划审议一个法案的新版本，向天然气车辆的购买者以及建造天然气充气站的企业提供补贴。（原定于11月17日的参议院投票被取消。）

虽然该法案的命运尚不明朗，美国投资分析 Lazard Capital Markets在7月份的一份报告中指出，天然气汽车在美国有 奕 必r 尔骓H。除了立法方面的进展之外，该报告还提及通用汽车等美国汽车制造商的一项决定，要在本国市场提供可使用天然气的汽车，美国的天然气供应商也将提供支持，帮助企业将车队汽车改造为天然气车辆，并建造天然气充气站。

抵御制裁的一剂补药

政府支持和行政指令一直是发展中国家使用天然气汽车的关键因素。举例而言，印度和巴基斯坦的当地政府要求公共交通车辆必须使用天然气。从伊朗到巴基斯坦，天然气 格经过政府补贴后，平均只有汽油 格的一半。

伊朗在天然气车辆方面增长最快。截止到2009年底，在全国1100万辆汽车中，使用天然气的就有170万辆，比2006年的11.5万辆有了长足增长。2010年在伊朗首都德黑兰举办了一个天然气技术的国际会议，大会发言人称，到2012年初，伊朗的天然气汽车数量预计将达到250万辆。

这 转换的驱动因素之一是要把那些燃油效率很差的老旧汽车替换下来，因为它们给德黑兰造成了十分严重的污染。

国际制裁（或国际制裁的威胁）也对天然气汽车的应用产生了正面效应。协助政府管理天然气项目的巴格贝克(Mahmoudreza Bagherbeik)说，发展天然气产业是最重要的国家政策之一，以此可提高伊朗抵御更多国际制裁的能力。道。

由于炼油量的不足，伊朗几乎一半的汽油消费依赖进口。2010年夏，当联合国因伊朗研究核技术而对其实施制裁时，美国也如法炮制，威胁要惩罚那些向伊朗提供汽油的企业。伊朗做出反应，将一些化工 临时改为炼油 ，并把更多的加油设施改造为天然气充气站。

改用天然气对伊朗来说很合 ，因为这个国家拥有全世界第二大的天然气储量，仅次于俄罗斯，并能依托中东地区最大的国内汽车产业作为制造基地。 那次大会的发言人称，伊朗还建造了1,500个天然气充气站，并预计在2012年初增加到2,400个。

不过，伊朗在推行天然气能源的过程中也暴露了存在的一些问题。新改成天然气的汽车用户对安全问题心存疑虑。虽然行业专家表示，正 安装天然气系统的汽车要比以汽油为动力的汽车更安全，但伊朗有个规模不断扩大的天然气非法改装市场。这类改装一般会牵涉到本来为氧气等气体准备的发动 气缸，在亚洲部分地区已经因此造成一些死亡事件。

伊朗国家天然气公司(National Iranian Gas Co.)称，大多数天然气汽车的行驶范围要比使用汽油的汽车少15%。这一弱点，再加上加气站 络不够广泛，意味着伊朗的司 经常要为本国天然气能源事业的成功付出一点代 ——排长队等待加气。