CO2 Reduction and Cost Efficiency Potential of Natural Gas Hybrid Passenger Cars

CO2 reduction targets are a big challenge for the mobility sector because about 20% of all CO2 emissions origin from road traffic. The problem is intensified by the expected traffic growth which will mainly take place in developing countries. Several powertrain and fuel technologies are competing regarding their CO2 reduction potential compared to conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. Hybrid electric vehicles with a certain energy saving potential as well as natural gas vehicles (NGVs) with their lower fuel carbon content are expected to gain on importance. But why not combining dedicated natural gas engine and hybrid powertrain technology to achieve very low CO2 emissions even for mid size passenger cars? At a first glance, such a powertrain combination looks just like a combination of two expensive technologies without any market potential. A more detailed analysis shows, however, that NGV hybrids allow high CO2 reductions without additional end-user costs over the vehicle's entire lifetime. The present study addresses both topics: it presents the CO2 reduction potential of mid-size passenger cars driven with an average natural gas-hybrid powertrain and it addresses end-user costs compared with today's gasoline technology.