Belarus Lifted Ban On Refueling Cars With Methane

• 2.03.2017, 13:38

I was again allowed to refuel VW Passat, Touran and Caddy cars with methane in the gas filling stations due to complaints of car drivers.

"Problem" Volkswagen cars: Passat and Touran up to 2014 year made, as well as Caddy up to 2012 year made are allowed to be refueled with methane at the gas filling stations in Belarus. The Gazprom Transgaz Belarus company reported that to tut.by.

– We started getting complaints from drivers in connection with the ban to refuel some VW models with methane. People are asking to allow them to refuel their cars with methane, as their cars have small fuel tanks and they constantly need refueling. We got numerous reports from Hrodna – Gazprom Transgaz Belarus informs. – As far as the dealer cannot fully meet the demand of the car owners to replace the gas equipment, we met them half way: the ban on refueling with methane was canceled on February 28.

Now, while refueling with methane, the operating pressure has been reduced to 160 atmospheres, before that the cars were refueled at 200-220 atmospheres.

We remind that in August 2016, Volkswagen announced that it was calling back about 30,000 vehicles running on CNG (compressed natural gas) in Europe in order to replace their gas cylinders. The automaker said that the reason for that was the impossibility to check the cylinders for corrosion properly. There has been a ban at the European gas stations to refuel Passat and Touran up to 2014 year made, as well as Caddy up to 2012 year made with methane, in case they don’t have a certificate, confirming that the gas equipment in the car has been checked and is working properly.

On February 23, the ban on refueling this kind of cars with methane was introduced in Belarus.