“But when it comes to other segments, particularly longer hauls, we continue to believe DME (dimethyl ether) shows tremendous promise,” he observed. “Converting natural gas to DME is an innovative way to address many of the distribution, storage and fueling challenges otherwise presented by natural gas – particularly liquefied natural gas – as a heavy truck fuel."
He said Volvo will continue to work with this technology and we hope the industry as a whole will get more interested in it as time goes on – though if the industry were able to get the critical mass of production volume needed, "DME could really be a game-changer,” Persson said.
“Of course, one of the biggest short-term environmental issues in this market today is the second phase of the U.S. greenhouse gas regulations. A major issue from our perspective is whether or not there will be a separate engine standard, in addition to the complete vehicle standard,” he noted.