September 26, 2022. The Argentine government presented the “National Plan for Sustainable Transport” whose main objective is to draw a roadmap for 2030, with actions that seek to guarantee the energy transition in the sector, through its planning, and promote the use of cleaner energy for all transporte modes, both cargo and passengers.
The Minister of Transport, Alexis Guerrera, explained that “the initiative has as axes the incorporation of natural gas, but also a perspective on electromobility, which provides the optimization of resources, and creating new regulations.”
“We are talking about a very strong impact if we gradually manage to transform everything that mainly moves with diesel to natural gas by 2023, and generating a large work table with all the national and international actors. This work is between everyone, it is for everyone and it is for Argentina”, he added.
The Plan covers the development of actions with three main programs: renewal and adaptation of fleets towards natural gas, in the first instance; electric mobility and the incorporation of new technologies to supply cargo and passenger vehicles.
“We talk a lot about gas because it is the natural resource that is most available in Argentina and it has a distribution chain that is the most extensive in the country. With state oil company YPF we have created productive corridors, with the National Gas Regulatory Entity (ENARGAS) we work in high flow peaks so that long-distance buses and trucks have to wait less and less at service stations”, concluded the Minister.
In this sense, the “National Plan for Sustainable Transport” defines a concrete roadmap at the national level to accelerate the adaptation of its infrastructure and operation.
For this, short and long-term objectives were set. In an initial stage, it is estimated that 10% of the new units that are incorporated into public roads will be fueled by natural gas (9%) and electricity (1%). This will generate annual savings of 41 million liters of gasoline and 96 million liters of diesel. In this way, only for next year an approximate saving of diesel imports of 200 million dollars is estimated.
Likewise, by 2030, there is a bet that there will be 15,000 buses running on gas, generating savings of 1,800 million liters of diesel; 150 thousand gas trucks, reducing diesel consumption by 2,600 million liters; and that 15% of the total vehicle fleet will be gas-powered. In addition, it is estimated that a large percentage of the vehicles that belong to the state will be hybrid and electric. Finally, work will be done to reduce GHG emissions to 5.84 MT CO2.
