Bruce Winchester (Part 1) - Executive Director at the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance
A natural gas bus drives past you, and it suddenly lights a bulb inside your head, it quickly triggers a click on your mind on how to save money, on how to help your country.
This happened to Bruce Winchester around 2009 while working for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Canada, without knowing that several years after that he would be the Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance Executive Director.
With all his public policy background experience, he represents the industry (producers, distributors, equipment, fleet users) in one of the countries with the most prolific technology developments around the NGV sector.
At this moment Canada showcases around 140 refueling locations, where about 45 of are high capacity, in great locations specific for the long-haul transportation sector. The remaining of those are time filling stations for refuse or bus fleets. Not very impressive numbers considering that Canada is the 3rd largest natural gas producing country in the world.
The success stories of Canada in the NGV sector are tightly related to the long history of automotive manufacturing of the country. An industry with a long tradition in automotive technology innovation.
Cummins Westport, Agility, Luxfer and Kraus are examples of innovative leadership and high-quality manufacturing.
….More in the Part 2 interview with Bruce that will be published on November 20th.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
- How Bruce got into the NGV business (4:30)
- About the development of the NGV Industry in Canada (10:00)
- How the companies and truck fleets became interested in NGVs (14:02)
- Greenhouse Effect Emissions in Canada (18:00)
- What have been the Federal Government Initiatives regarding NGVs (19:01)
- How the CNG station market evolved from light-duty to heavy-duty (24:00)
- How many CNG stations does Canada have? (26:40)
- The Vedder Transportation success story (29:15)
- Why Canada is so related to the automotive innovation sector (31:55)
- About the Cummins Westport, Agility, Luxfer, Kraus and Xebec success stories (40:01)
- About Xebec Adsorption and other innovation companies (42:50)
Resources:
Check the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance Website
Check Bruce Winchester Linkedin Profile