The California NGV Partnership has organized a program to spearhead the development and demonstration of NGV platforms and engines. This program strives to accomplish specific tasks in promoting the wide-spread adoption of NGV platforms. As part of their objectives, program participants will:

• Identify the availability of chassis and NGVs, including heavy- and medium-duty school buses, transit buses, trucks, off-road vehicles and passenger cars.

• Identify the current platform development and demonstration efforts needed to achieve the goal of 0.2 g/bhp-hr NOx emissions by 2007.

• Identify the optimum natural gas engine horsepowers and additional platform development to compete with diesel engines

• Initiate engine and platform development programs with stakeholders to integrate natural gas engines into medium- and heavy-duty platforms.

• Complete and submit ongoing reporting on all R&D projects.

With the rising cost of petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel, tougher emission standards and the growing public demand for better environmental policies, natural gas vehicles provide an attractive alternative with
a multitude of key advantages.