OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2011. The presentation of the first Russian hybrid vehicles, Yo-Concept and sporty Yo-Crossover, took place today at the Gazprom headquarters premises.

Participating in the presentation were Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Andrey Biryukov, President of the Yarovit Holding and CEO of the Yo-Auto project.

The Yo-Mobile features were revealed as well as the innovative engineering solutions used in the car design. The main Yo-Mobile feature is the hybrid drivetrain – a generator and an internal-combustion engine that can burn both gasoline and natural gas.
“I really liked the car, it's very unusual and breaks the mould. The most important is that the technology has been developed in Russia and Gazprom is ready to support the Yo-Mobile project. For us it is interesting as an NGV fuel market driver, gas will also be used when producing composite materials for this car.

Environmental benefits are of no less importance. The key pollutants emitted by a gas powered engine are much fewer than those emitted by a gasoline powered one.

Promoting the NGV fuel use, Gazprom will be the general sponsor of the Yo sports team. Being the future general sponsor and supporting this team, we are expecting the new records which yet again show the advantage of gas use as a motor fuel,” said Alexey Miller to the media.
Background

The Russian fleet of natural gas vehicles amounts to some 86 thousand units (over 13 million units worldwide). At present, there are 249 CNG filling stations (207 of them are owned by Gazprom) in 58 regions of the Russian Federation. Besides, a new CNG filling station is being currently built in the Kaliningrad Oblast.

One of the measures stimulating gas use as a motor fuel in Russia is the Government Directive on Urgent Measures Expanding Substitution of Motor Fuels with Natural Gas dated January 15, 1993. The Directive sets the maximum CNG price at the level of 50 per cent of the A-76 gasoline price.

In October 2011 the State Duma of the Russian Federation examined the draft Federal Law on NGV Fuel. The adoption of the document will help develop the Russian NGV fuel market.