Seat and Snam partner in Europe: target more petrol cars

There is not only electricity, but in the future of road transport, there is also gas and we must bet with more vigor today, in Milan, Seat and Snam. The two companies have signed an important partnership to promote the use of natural gas (CNG or Compressed Natural Gas) and renewable energies (biomethane) in Europe, hence investments aimed at developing refueling infrastructure, research and development and new cars. .

Seat is Snam's natural partner in this context. The car manufacturer has in fact the largest range of petrol cars in the Old Continent and, being part of the large Volkswagen Group, we will (probably) apply the effects of this agreement on other brands of the same family. .

The numbers speak clearly: in Europe, methane-based road transport is developing and the Italian market records the most significant figures with 1 million cars and 1,300 distributors. The savings in terms of emissions are therefore important, remember that CNG cars produce 75% less nitrogen oxide than diesel vehicles and 25% less CO2 than gasoline vehicles.

Delete that the ultimate goal is to completely eliminate these emissionsbut it will take time and other technological advances (see batteries and fast charging systems) to have electrical and hydrogen solutions capable of supplanting everything else.

In this scenario, the new one is inserted Seat Arona TGI already seen at the Mondial de l'Automobile, the first and only GNV SUV in the world which has three tanks for storing methane (total capacity of 14.3 kg and autonomy of 400 km), plus a small fuel tank with an additional range of 160 km. Presented for the first time in Italy, the new 90hp will be the most eco-sustainable alternative to existing engines (besides the references, Style, XCellence and FR).

The agreement with Snam – said the president of SEAT Luca de Mero – lays the foundation for a wider dissemination of CNG: Italy is the leader in Europe in the use of this food and this year concentrates 55% of sales of vehicles running on natural gas. One in five vehicles sold by SEAT in Italy is CNG. With this collaboration, we want to give a new impetus to the development of compressed gas in Italy and export this case of success to other countries.

Snam has thus inaugurated the need for gas and supply points in Pesaro the first station of L-CNG, 50 more are under construction and in a few years, they will be about 200.