Armenia: World Leader in Natural Gas Vehicles

Armenians have always been ready to adapt to new technology as they require it - and this is no different.

The transport ministry estimates that between 20 and 30 percent of vehicles in Armenia run on gas. That compares to just over 3 percent in the Netherlands, a front-runner in natural gas-powered transport, according to the World LP Gas Association.

In landlocked Armenia, it is not concerns over climate change or global warming that are driving growth in natural gas-powered vehicles. Instead, it is harsh necessity - and an unresolved war with Azerbaijan, its neighbor to the east.

"Petrol is getting more expensive," said Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian. "(Natural) gas ... has not gone up by that much so it is preferable to use it."

Back in the late 1980s, my father had his Niva converted to natural gas. The car worked as normal, except it had one enormous red bottle - or more like a barrel - where the trunk space should have been. Oh, and it almost usually had a faint gas smell coming from it. Of course, gas doesn't smell, but an aroma is added so you could smell if you were in trouble and get out. Needless to say, that smell didn't matter then and it doens't matter now, even despite the fact that a majority of Armenians smoke regularly. However, I've heard - and they may just be urban legends - of some buses on natural gas exploding into flames in Yerevan and injuring or possibly even killing people nearby.

I encourage you to read the full article linked below.

Source: Topix

Armenia's Short-lived Car Industry

Believe it or not, Armenia did produce buses at one point. A Latvian factory called RAF - Rigas Avtobus Fabrika - introduced in 1958 a model called RAF 977, which was basically a minibus. There were many varieties of this new bus, which were produced under the Latvija name, to serve a variety of needs, from passenger transport to ambulance uses. An updated variation known as RAF 977D was put into production in 1962 in Latvia, but due to insufficient factory size was moved to Yerevan, Armenia in 1966. The factory responsible for making these buses in Armenia was known as ErAZ, which stood for Yerevanskii Avtomobilnee Zavod, or Yerevan Car Factory. Needless to say, most people referred to the car itself as Yeraz, which means "dream" in Armenian. It is unclear how much of the car was produced there and how much was merely a putting-together of parts from all around the Soviet Union.

If you ever had the pleasure of riding in a Yeraz, you would know that that name has a double meaning that's not completely favorable to the car! It was slow, having only a tiny 75-horsepower engine - the equivalent of two old VW Beetle engines - and a 3-speed transmission to drag around nearly two tons of Soviet steel; the ride was also very uncomfortable - I speak from first-hand experience - and the design was quickly outdated.

It seems the RAF 977 was replaced in 1976 by the squarer RAF 2203, which Armenians refer to simply as "RAF," though it is unclear how long after that ErAZ continued making the 977. Unconfirmed sources assure me that the 977 model was produced at least until near the end of the Soviet Union. Once the Soviet Union fell, so did the supply lines which kept the factory going. In 1997, the Latvian company declared bankruptcy.

If anyone has more information about this very interesting bus, please let me know!

Sources: RAF on WikiPedia, Post Soviet...PDF Document, and Kommersant