The Potential Role of Natural Gas Vehicles in the Reduction of GHG Emissions in the Italian Private Transportation Framework

This paper investigates the possibility to reduce the emissions of CO2 in the Italian passenger transportation sector by increasing the share of internal combustion engine vehicles fed by natural gas. In fact, from an environmental point of view, natural gas is a better choice in comparison with traditional oil-based fuels, as it yields less CO2, NOx, and PM emissions per kilometer, than classical gasoline and diesel engines, due to its intrinsic characteristics. For this reason, natural gas vehicles can effectively contribute to the energy transition, especially in the short-medium term, as it can be in the energy production sector. Nonetheless, Italian institutions address most of the eco-incentives’ mechanism to promote hybrid and electric passenger vehicles, irrespective of the different types of fuel for the internal combustion engine. In this paper, a technical overview of the different available propulsion systems adopted in commercial vehicles is first presented. Then, the Italian passenger vehicle market is analyzed to have a clear picture of the Italian private transportation framework, as well as to provide a sound basis to evaluate to what extent the natural gas vehicles can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). We show that with the eco-incentives’ mechanism of the two-year period 2020-2021, which provides a maximum amount of €6500 specifically to electric vehicles, the resulting overall cost of the avoided CO2 is about 975 €/tCO2 for an average vehicle lifespan of 10 years. However, addressing natural gas vehicles in place of electric ones with an incentive amount of €1000, this cost-benefit ratio could increase of about 14%