The Mayor of Toledo, Milagros Tolón, the Local Councillor for Economic Affairs, Enterprise and Employment, Patricia Franco, the Director-General for Industry, Energy and Mines, José Luis Cabezas, and the Clients and Markets Manager of Naturgy, José Luis Gil, officially opened the new vehicular natural gas refuelling station in Toledo earlier today, located at an AVIA service station on the Santa María de Benquerencia Industrial Estate.
This is the first of three public gas refuelling stations that will be opened in Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real and Albacete over the coming months. At present, the company operates another three public natural gas refuelling stations in Castilla-La Mancha, in the city of Guadalajara, Alovera (Guadalajara) and Motilla del Palancar (Cuenca). Once these three new ones are open, Naturgy will be operating in every province of the autonomous region.
“This new gas refuelling station represents another step taken by the company in its commitment to move forward in the transition to clean energy models in transport capable of making a contribution to improving air quality and people’s health”, said José Luis Gil, the Clients and Markets Manager of Naturgy.
The opening ceremony was also attended by representatives from the main brands offering compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles: SEAT, Fiat Professional, Volkswagen and Iveco, which showcased the models they sell.
Naturgy’s mobility support plan
This refuelling station forms part of the gas refuelling station network expansion plan being promoted by Naturgy and SEAT, involving the promotion of vehicular natural gas (VNG) through innovation projects, infrastructure expansion and the joint commercial promotion of vehicles and CNG.
The launch of this new natural gas refuelling station forms part of the company’s project to encourage mobility aimed at using natural gas as fuel as the best sustainable alternative to petroleum-based fossil fuels.
The new vehicular natural gas refuelling map in Spain will meet the increase in demand over the coming years and strengthen the availability of this fuel in the market given the increasing number of vehicles powered by natural gas.
Advantages of natural gas as a fuel
Vehicular natural gas in the automotive industry has numerous ecological and economic advantages. It is an environmentally-friendly fuel that contributes to improving air quality as a result of its particularly low emissions. Vehicles that use this fuel bear the ECO label by the Spanish Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT), and enjoy benefits including freedom of access to city centres at times when air pollution levels are high, as well as tax incentives and tax breaks in regulated parking areas.
Vehicular natural gas reduces nitrous oxide emissions by more than 85% and suspended particulates by almost 100%, the main causes of respiratory and heart problems stemming from pollution in urban environments. It also cuts CO2 emissions (the main greenhouse gas) by up to 30%, thereby contributing to the fight against climate change.
From an economic standpoint, natural gas is a highly competitive fuel; up to 50% cheaper than petrol and 30% cheaper than diesel. For example, 20 euros-worth of natural gas is enough to travel from Madrid to Barcelona. This is almost twice the distance a car running on petrol could travel.