Video: natural gas Honda Civic re-fueling
Above is another video from my trip to AltWheels Boston 2007. The video is a look at the Phill home refueling station, topping off a Honda Civic GNG (Compressed Natural Gas) car. Natural gas cars are actually the cleanest cars you can buy today, even cleaner than hybrids, but they just don't get the credit they deserve. The reason for the lack of recognition for CNG is they have major problems: natural gas is not available everywhere, for example, and CNG cars cost an extra $7,000 (that's without tax rebates) compared with a normal gas car. If the gas prices keep going up and battery technology promises never pan out though, CNG cars just might have to play a bigger role than many expect.
Related:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 8:35PM (10/02/2007)
A premium of $7k is pretty steep. The CNG variants of European cars (e.g. Opel's) run around EUR3000 above those of the base gasoline model. There's no tax credit as such, but per BTU, the fuel tax for natural gas is much lower.
Aside from higher initial cost - mainly due to the pressure tanks and the low unit volume - CNG vehicles also have a number of other disadvantages: engine power is reduced by ~10% and, the heavy and bulk tanks in the back reduce cargo space and FWD traction. Also, range on a tank of CNG is only ~200 miles; beyond that, the engine has to switch to the emergency gasoline tank.
With engineering effort and some lateral thinking by the safety regulators, these downsides could be overcome, which should increase demand. With that comes a denser refueling infrastructure, so eventually you'll see monovalent CNG systems that can fully exploit the high octane rating of methane at moderate cost. Plus, you get a low CO2 footprint per kWh and low toxic emissions.
In terms of energy security, there is far more natural gas in the world than oil. It's also available from many more sources, though some of the largest are in fairly hostile countries (Iran, Russia) and many others far from potential markets. It certainly makes more sense to burn CNG in an optimized ICE than it does to steam reform it to produce hydrogen, which is even harder to distribute.
Methane is also easily produced from waste vegetable matter in the form of biogas. However, that does contain some foul-smelling sulfur compounds that need to be scrubbed out at significant expense. Biogas also contains ~25% CO2, which would reduce energy density and hence, range. Therefore, it is better to burn the biogas in stationary power plants and reserve natural gas for transportation.
Reply
Bill 9:07PM (10/02/2007)
$7,000 price premium?
Might as well stick to diesel.
Reply
Joseph 11:58PM (10/02/2007)
The premium is due to its vvvery low production volume.
Reply
Zerk 9:16AM (10/03/2007)
http://www.seattle.gov/fire/publications/CNGAutoFire/CNG%20Auto%20Fire%20May%202007.ppt#9
What Lascelles has failed to explain is the fun you can have with CNG and explosions.
BLEVE
Reply
Lascelles Linton 9:41AM (10/03/2007)
Zerk, gas does the same thing. I personally think natural gas is better. I heard arguments for hydrogen that it's lighter and the flame is different. That's not why I would consider natural gas safer. If you smell natural gas while pumping, you know you have a problem. If you smell gas at a gas station, it's really considered normal. Inhaling stuff like diesel can have cause real problems.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20070912/diesel-fumes-heart-disease-a-bad-mix
Reply
azrolboyz 1:33AM (10/12/2007)
You're the best
Reply