Natural gas vehicle tank ruptures, killing driver

An investigation is underway into a fuel tank failure in a natural gas-powered shuttle van in Los Angeles.

This past Saturday, the van's fuel tank apparently ruptured while being fueled at a station in Carson, California owned by the Los Angeles County Department of Sanitation and operated by Clean Energy Fuels.

The tank rupture and resulting rapid decompression of the contents of the tank killed the van driver, who was standing behind the vehicle.

News accounts of the incident reported that the driver's wife said that the van had recently been damaged in a rear end collision and had just been returned to service when the incident occurred. No one else was injured. An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the failure.

There have been other incidents (say, this and this) of compressed fuel tanks exploding in vehicles.

We at the Cleantech Group ask can't help wonder whether driving some future fuel cell car with a compressed hydrogen tank sounds all that attractive. While the U.S. government asserts one is more than 10 times more likely to be struck by lightening than die from a compressed natural gas tank "when filling equipment is used properly," what assurances are there about a compressed tank's survivability in a crash? Or YOUR survivability when the tank fails?