Light vehicles are next in line, the Izvestia newspaper reports. About 200,000 gas-powered cars drive on Moscow roads today. The city’s public buses will also be converted to natural gas soon. Thirty-six filling stations offering propane/butane and methane have been built in Moscow over the past few years, and multifunctional filling centers have appeared this year selling both gasoline and natural gas.

The number of such stations is set to rise, but the main novelty will be cars powered by a new fuel - dimethyl ether, emitting three to four times fewer noxious fumes than gasoline. At the moment, dimethyl ether remains an expensive fuel, priced at about $850 per ton, against $700 per ton for the most expensive gasoline. But, with oil product prices rising, dimethyl ether is expected to be priced on par with gasoline soon. The more dimethyl ether is produced, the cheaper it will be.

For light vehicles, conversion to propane/butane costs about $400, and $1,000 to $1,200 for trucks. So far, Moscow motorists are not in a hurry to shift to natural gas due to the absence of garages specializing in such conversions.