Natural gas already powers as many as 130,000 cars and trucks in the U.S., and that number is set to increase with a momentous infusion of money into vehicular natgas research.
While not a renewable fuel, natural gas is most certainly an alternative fuel when it comes to America’s traditional automotive infrastructure… Those 130,000 cars and trucks are out of some 220 million diesel, gasoline or hybrid vehicles on the road nationwide.
Most of the vehicles already zooming down the road on hydrocarbons are fleet vehicles, retrofitted by companies like Dallas’s BAF Technologies.
For example, BAF is converting 8,000 for AT&T over the next five years, in a deal worth $70 million per annum.
Politicians from BAF’s home state of Texas and neighboring Oklahoma are pushing hard to bring more such job-creating contracts to the oil-rich region.
Two Oklahoma Congressmen, Democrat Dan Boren and Republican John Sullivan, are at the forefront of efforts to increase federal natgas vehicle research funding. "It’s vital for jobs and the economy in Oklahoma," Sullivan told the AP after the House gave the thumbs-up to continued DOE research.
Some $30 million per year will be put into natural gas vehicle research through 2014, if the measure passes the Senate.
Boren, for his part, sponsored a bill called the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act, abbreviated NAT GAS.
We’ll keep you up to date with all the natural gas stocks and investment angles, from conversion companies like BAF to the top automakers to start kicking out natgas-ready vehicles in the coming months and years.
Regards,
Sam Hopkins
