80,000 Kilometers on CNG – with only one set of spark plugs

In May the European headquarters of NGK Spark Plug Europe unveiled the gas operated car which had covered more than 80,000 kilometres since October 2009 – with only one set of LPG LaserLine spark plugs. At that occasion the driver – an initiator of the CNG marathon – was also the guest of NGK: the German Rainer Zietlow.

In October and November of last year, Zietlow first crossed Europe and Asia in his VW Caddy Maxi EcoFuel. From January to April 2010 he then completed the second stage of his expedition, a south-to-north transit through the Americas – from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. In total he covered in excess of 80,000 kilometres on both trips, which he refers to as EcoFuel Eurasia and EcoFuel Transamerica – a distance roughly equal to two trips around the world.

As one of the sponsors of this exciting experiment, NGK Spark Plug Europe contributed not only to the funding of the project but also made donations to SOS children’s villages that were part of it. Additionally, the leading manufacturer of spark plugs and Lambda sensors took the opportunity to put its special spark plugs for gas operated cars, LPG LaserLine, to a unique endurance test. LPG LaserLine was only launched last year – and NGK supplied the assortment’s spark plug with the short number “1” – for Zietlow.

Norbert Schmalfuß, NGK’s Head of Sales and Marketing Germany, comments: “Gas operation is very challenging for the spark plugs. The LPG LaserLine assortment claims to withstand all those tough challenges, which include higher combustion temperatures, an increase of ignition voltage and a raised corrosion risk. Rainer Zietlow’s CNG expedition was therefore a perfect opportunity for us to conduct an endurance test under real conditions.”

However, nobody at NGK had expected the results to turn out quite so positive. Rainer Zietlow: “The expedition took us through many continents. The ignition system had to cope with different climates and altitudes – from sea level to the heights of the Andes and through the Texan steppe. In spite of all this, we never needed to replace the spark plugs, nor did we experience any problems of any kind with them. We have used the same set of plugs from October’s expedition kick-off in Lisbon until today. Even after far more than 80,000 kilometres in gas operation, the spark plugs work as good as new and show no signs of wear.”