ALEXANDRIA, Va. – On this week’s NACS Convenience Matters podcast, winners of the 2017 Fuels Institute Case Competition discuss their winning proposal that focuses on incorporating liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the U.S. transition to autonomous vehicles.

The Case Competition’s theme, “Introducing a New Transportation Energy System,” asked each student team to establish a plan for introducing a new fuel (non-specific source of energy) and light-duty vehicle configuration into the market by leveraging historic experience and demonstrating the return on investment for fuel producers, vehicle manufacturers, fuel retailers and consumers. Students were asked to develop a market strategy that could enable an alternative fuel and vehicle to enter the market and satisfy consumers in the most efficient, cost effective manner.

During the “How Would You Introduce a New Transportation Energy System?” podcast, Georgetown students Mary Fay and Jesse Spodak outline how their model, developed along with fellow student Corey Curnutte, would rely on LNG to power fleets of autonomous, light-duty vehicles for shared use in urban areas. They cited several advantages that LNG can provide over other fuel sources, including low and stable prices, energy density, and an already developed infrastructure within the United States. These advantages would best be leveraged by ride-sharing fleets of vehicles using autonomous technology. They concluded that among other fueling options for an autonomous fleet, LNG is the optimum choice for this growing, dynamic segment of the market.

This year’s competition attracted 12 teams, and the three finalist teams from Georgetown University, University of Utah and Clemson University, were flown out to the Institute’s Annual Meeting in Denver to present their cases and field Q&A from more than 100 professionals in the fuels and vehicle and transportation industries.

Convenience Matters focuses on topics related to convenience stores. Episodes can be downloaded on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and at convenience-matters.com.