Thursday, July 19, 2012

Department of Energy Gives General Electric Grant to Develop At-home Fueling for Natural Gas Cars (GE; GTLS)

Here are the 13 projects:
ARPA-E PROJECT SELECTIONS –
METHANE OPPORTUNITIES FOR VEHICULAR ENERGY (MOVE) TECHNICAL DESCRIPTIONS

And here is the GE press release:

GE Researchers Developing At-Home Refueling Station for NG Vehicles
As part of a program with ARPA-E, GE researchers, working with Chart Industries and the University of Missouri, will set out to build and demonstrate an at-home refueling station for natural gas (NG) vehicles that meets the agency's cost target of $500 per station and reduces re-fueling times from 5-8 hours to less than 1 hour. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Chart Industries home (GTLS). No news on their website although the stock was up a buck (1.56%) yesterday.

And via GE Global Research's Edison's Desk blog: 

Goal of ARPA-E project to achieve 10X reduction in station costs and cut re-fueling time for Natural Gas (NG) vehicles from a whole work day to under one hour
Developing unique approach to re-fueling that would replace more expensive and complex compressor technologies used todayInitial focus will be on re-fueling stations for fleet vehicles, with an eye to passenger vehicles in the future

NISKAYUNA, N.Y., July 18, 2012 – In what could help fuel widespread adoption of NG vehicles in the US and globally, GE researchers, in partnership with Chart Industries and scientists at the University of Missouri, have been awarded a program through Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) to develop an affordable at-home refueling station that would meet ARPA-E’s target of $500 per station and reduce re-fueling times from 5-8 hours to less than 1 hour.

Natural gas prices are at an all-time low and the number of natural gas (NG) vehicles is increasing, but several barriers are preventing greater adoption of this vehicle technology. These include the inconvenience and low availability of refueling stations and limited driving range of NG vehicles.

At-home refueling stations are sold today, but are expensive (~$5000) and require long re-fueling times. The 5-8 hours required to refuel an NG vehicle often leaves overnight re-fueling as the only the viable option for vehicle owners. While these barriers can be more easily managed by established fleets, they are not practical for passenger vehicles parked in the driveway or garage at home....MORE