Mercedes Expands Natural Gas Vehicle Production to Thailand

25 December 2005

The Benz E200 NGT

TNA. Daimler Chrysler plans to begin producing natural gas vehicles (NGV) in Thailand—its first instance of NGV production outside of Germany.

The announcement came during a ceremony in which DaimlerChrysler delivered the bi-fuel E200 NGT (earlier post)to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for testing for one year.

The 1.8-liter, inline-four cylinder engine in the E200 produces 120 kW (165 hp) with 240 Nm (177 lb-ft) of torque in natural gas mode, matching the power and torque of the E 200 Kompressor on which the NGT was based. This makes the NGT the most powerful bi-fuel sedan in production, according to Mercedes.

Production will be for local sale as well as export. Other automakers are expected to begin producing NGVs in Thailand since governments in the region are promoting NGV use as a mechanism to cope with the volatility of rising fuel prices.

PTT, the Thai gas company, will accelerate building NGV service stations to accommodate the expected increased demand for the alternative fuel. Currently PTT operates 58 NGV service stations. It plans to increase the number to 160 next year and 740 nationwide in 2010.

There are currently 500,000 NGVs in Thailand consuming 365 million cubic feet of gas per day.

To encourage more NGV use,Thailand will reduce an existing excise tax on NGV by 10 per cent to 20 per cent and give an import tariff exemption for NGV cylinders and other related equipment.