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"U.S. CNG market is down by 40% from 2014 peak". Interview with Jared Hightower

We speak to Jared Hightower, Vice President of Sales at ANGI Energy Systems, about the current situation of the CNG market in the U.S.



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Jared Hightower is the Vice President of Sales at ANGI Energy Systems. He has been involved in the CNG world for over a decade, and has been working in sales for ANGI since 2010. As an equipment manufacturer and service provider, ANGI works with industry partners and station owner/operators in the commercial, transit, and retail spaces to bring the technical solutions and services for natural gas vehicle projects. 

There are almost 1,000 public CNG fuelling stations in the United States. What kind of growth do you expect for CNG stations in the near future?

We do see growth but it's not at the same rate that it was from 2011 until 2014.  In fact, there are nearly 1800 CNG stations if you include public and private access stations.  Private access stations are very important because they often fuel high consumption fleets such as refuse, package delivery, and transit buses. These fleets have been the basis of much more investment than retail has over the last couple years. 

How have the last two years of low gasoline prices affected the growth of CNG transport?

We estimate that the 2016 CNG market is around 40% smaller than the peak 2014 North American CNG market, but there is still a lot of activity and interest.  Retail CNG, serving both Class 8 and light duty vehicles, has been the hardest hit segment.

Many fleet, garbage and bus companies are adopting CNG as their method of transport. How important are waste companies for the natural gas transport market?

Refuse has continued to be strong with many companies such as Waste Management and Waste Industries making large investments in converting their fleets from diesel to natural gas.  In fact, approximately half of all refuse trucks ordered every year in the United States are CNG. The return on investment and the environmental and operational advantages have kept this a fairly strong market.  Transit companies much like refuse companies have a longer view and planning cycle and that has allowed transit to remain a strong market for CNG. 

When you look around the U.S., which are the most ambitious projects that you see in terms of developing CNG transport and fuelling stations?

The market continues to be driven by anchor fleets; whether the stations are fully private, have a public access component, or are retail stations the station infrastructure owner needs to define part of its customer base before they make the investment in the CNG station. 

Going forward with CNG as a fuel, what represents the biggest challenge?

One of the largest challenges with CNG is adoption due to the high investment cost of converting vehicles to CNG and building the fueling infrastructure.  So fleets that consume a large amount of fuel are critical to creating demand for both retail and private stations.  I don’t believe light duty will drive retail development in the near term.

In Europe, a number of countries have given government incentives to natural gas fuel companies and car manufacturers. How do you assess the U.S. Government´s attitude towards compressed natural gas?

While the federal government, states, and even some local governments have supported CNG fuel, there has not been strong consistent support for compressed natural gas. Unfortunately, I do not see that changing in the near term.  We must rely on the environmental benefits of compressed natural gas and renewable natural gas and the ROI available for many fleets until the price of petroleum rebounds. 

Since the acquisition of ANGI Energy Systems by Gilbarco in 2014, have there been any notable changes at the company?

We have seen a number of changes since the acquisition. Some were forced by the challenging market that started in 2014, but many are positive changes made as a result of the acquisition.  GVR has brought a lot of manufacturing and change management capabilities to ANGI that built on our strong qualities, capabilities, and culture.  We now have a greater focus on continuous improvement, product development, customer support, and daily management. The acquisition has helped us move to the next level.

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