Low cost and high mileage of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel has led to increase in CNG vehicles in Coimbatore and consumption of CNG fuel has reportedly gone up by 15%
CNG has multiple advantages such as low cost and environment friendly, says Damodaran who owns a CNG outlet in Coimbatore. A kg of CNG fuel price fluctuates between ₹78.50 to ₹84 compared to petrol, diesel fuelled vehicles. A kg of CNG gives approximately 20 km whereas petrol and diesel vehicles give only 14 to 15 km, says K. Prasanna who owns a CNG fuelled car.
In 2021, on an average, ten CNG cars used to be sold whereas now the car sales has touched around 40. To keep pace with the growth of CNG vehicles, outlets that dispense CNG fuel are also on the rise. Compared to the just seven outlets in 2022, there are about 35 outlets in the city now.
Coimbatore city is expected to have more than 5,000 CNG fuelled vehicles. The CNG fuel consumption has risen by 15% and per day CNG consumption is 23 tonnes and by next year it is expected to go upto 50 tonnes.
CNG fuel comes in liquid form in ships to Kochi and from there it takes the gas form and through pipelines, it lands at Pichanur in Madukkarai. From there, the fuel is supplied in lorries to the outlets.