EcoFuel Transamerica Proves Viability of Natural Gas Vehicles

Starting with the 1907 Peking-to-Paris auto race, there have been many long distance automobile journeys undertaken to demonstrate and publicize the current state of automotive technology. In 1907 this focus was on proving the viability of the automobile itself. Two of the latest efforts – the EcoFuel Transamerica and EcoFuel Eurasia – aim to prove the capability of natural gas vehicles, and in particular the Volkswagen Caddy Maxi EcoFuel, in traveling very long distances entirely on compressed natural gas (CNG).

For the past few years, Rainer Zietlow and his company, Challenge4 GmbH, have been piloting EcoFuel vehicles to demonstrate and publicize the capability of using CNG on very long distance trips. The EcoFuel Transamerica effort is covering a route from the most southern CNG station in the city of Rio Grande, located in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego Province, to the most northern station in Barrow, Alaska. The trip began on January 2, 2010 and is expected to completed on April 2, 2010.

Much of the meandering trip was made along the Pan-American Highway, the world’s longest highway, with extensive side trips. In South America, they visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Zietlow and his team traveled to the U.S. East Coast from the tip of Florida to Massachusetts before heading back cross-country to Los Angeles. This adds up to a total of 24,855 miles. The stop in Los Angeles highlighted the opening of Landi Renzo USA’s new headquarters in Torrance, California. The Landi Renzo Group is a global leader in designing and manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas systems.

Last year, Zietlow completed the EcoFuel Eurasia, which followed a 6,200 mile route beginning in Lisbon, Portugal and ending in Tokyo via Moscow and Seoul, Korea. Much of the trip was over the Amur Transcontinental from Moscow to Vladivostok. The longest road in Russia, the Amur Transcontinental has 900-plus miles of gravel road, which is probably not much better than the route of the 1907 Paris to Peking trip. This was a good test for durability of the Caddy Maxi EcoFuel.

In 2006-2007, Zietlow drove a CNG-fueled VW Caddy on a 142 day journey covering 25,000 miles, traversing five continents ending in Leipzig Germany. This earned him an entry in the in Guinness Book of World Records. Earlier this year he drove a VW Passat TSI EcoFuel to all of Germany’s 800 natural gas fuel stations.

The VW Caddy Maxi EcoFuel can travel up to 354 miles exclusively on natural gas. Zietlow Caddy did have an additional nine CNG cylinders on top and five underneath the chassis that were used only in Central America and Siberia where CNG was not available. CNG was available in Europe, South America, and in most of Russia. In the U.S., the biggest challenge was not finding CNG stations, it was accessing them. Many stations offer private access only and a fuel card is needed, highlighting the growing need for public access stations.

The Caddy EcoFuel’s four-cylinder, 109 horsepower 2.0 liter gasoline engine has been optimized to efficiently use either CNG or gasoline. Standard CNG tanks are located beneath the vehicle so they do not decrease load capacity. Of course, the Caddy EcoFuel is more environmentally-friendly than a gasoline counterpart. For example, about two tons less CO2 will be emitted during the EcoFuel Transamerica and EcoFuel Eurasia compared to a comparable gasoline motor.