Honda to sell maker of Phill CNG home fueling device
Since Honda started offering a natural gas-powered version of the Civic (the GX) several years ago they have also offered buyers a device called the Phill. Phill is a home natural gas compressor that hooks up to the household gas supply and fuels the car. The device is built by a Honda-owned company called FuelMaker Corp in Toronto. Honda has now sold FuelMaker to Clean Energy Fuels Corp. for $17 million. Clean Energy already sells compressed and liquefied natural gas for transportation fleets in North America and wants to use the Phill technology to expand the market for natural gas vehicles in North America and worldwide. In particular, the company sees an international market for the Phill in places like Europe and India where natural gas is more popular as a vehicle fuel.
Gallery: 2007 Honda Civic GX
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
occ 3:04PM (9/11/2008)
I read Phill can fill up your CNG car at a 1/2 gal "equivalent" per hr, or only 4 gal of equivalent fuel overnight.
Good start for getting yourself off oil, but I'd rather fillup on electricity, generated from daytime solar credit, and nightime rates.
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ecd4me 3:21PM (9/11/2008)
only thing is.. nat gas is here now and could be expanded quickly. Your battery doesnt yet exist. every car running on nat gas reduces demand for foreign oil. I know the local Schwann fleet of trucks run on nat gas and have for years. Its not that hard to do.
Tim 3:37PM (9/11/2008)
Home CNG auto filling makes sense as a relatively quick way to get off foreign oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickens_Plan
CNG would make great fuel for an Extended Range Electric Vehicle’s range-extender because it does not degrade or go “flat” like liquid fuels.
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Joseph 6:59PM (9/11/2008)
Hmm...this is odd. I don't know if this is a positive or negative thing.
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travis 3:54PM (9/11/2008)
The thing is, there aren't many natural gas cars that are READILY available for purchase... and you can't just convert your car to natural gas... the Conversion kits have to be approved for emissions... and very few have gotten that. The ones that have gotten it are mostly trucks.
I'd LOVE to convert to natural gas, or have an affordably priced car that runs on CNG... until then, I'll ride my electric motorcycle.
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tankd0g 8:16PM (9/11/2008)
Nice if you're within 2500 miles of CNG service I guess.
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Peryy 6:46PM (9/13/2008)
Natural gas is going to be the next fuel for the United States. Its cheaper, cleaner, domestic, and very abundant. Battery technology is not yet cheap enough to get us off foreign oil and natural gas is the best alternative. Diesel fuel is so expensive now that heavy duty fleet vehicles are converting very quickly to natural gas. It saves U.S. companies alot of money in fuel costs and keeps the air clean. Best of all it keeps money from flowing into the hands of our enemies.
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brn 9:43AM (9/12/2008)
Natural gas prices have been shooting up for a few years now and this winter is going to be dramatically worse. If this keeps up, I'm not going to be able to afford to heat my house.
Maybe I'll switch to gasoline for heat.
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Bill 12:59PM (9/12/2008)
Natural gas prices swing widely, especially during high demand in summer & winter.
A big reason it is cheaper is because you pay no federal or state road tax on natural gas as a vehicle fuel here in the U.S.
That will change quickly if natural gas becomes a common vehicle fuel.
Another reason natural gas vehicles' appeal has been limited here in the U.S. is that most run _only_ on natural gas instead of allowing a switch as in most other countries where you run on gas until gone but then can switch to gasoline.
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Sasparilla 5:09PM (9/12/2008)
It seems weird of Honda to be dumping this company at this point in time (we're drastically increasing the recoverable reserve estimates for natural gas here in the US and its half the price of gasoline for much of the US).
Honda only made 1000 natural gas Civics for 2008 and will make 1500 for 2009 (supposedly they're all sold out already).
This little tool that you get hooked up to your home natural gas line (that you use for your heat) is perfect if they wanted to push their natural gas car more - with Picken's talking everywhere - this would seem to be a no brainer. Why sell it now?
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Perry 6:54PM (9/13/2008)
Because its not really part of honda's business plan to sell home refueling stations. Not to mention clean power technologies will probably do alot more than honda ever did with the technology considering they are even bigger supporters of natural gas vehicles than honda.
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Don Railey 3:02PM (10/08/2008)
I've watched the T. Boon Pickins' adds that promote CNG as a quick turnaround from oil products. Our addiction to middle east oil is costing $700 billlion a year and it's going to "W"'s oil buddies in Saudi Arabia. This addiction to oil is getting our young men and women in the military killed and maimed on the battle fields of the "guess what?" MIDDLE EAST!! How about it Barack or John? Which of you two are going to step up and support CNG as an alternitive? The technology is here now. We don't have to wait 15 years to DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW BABY that's being espoused by McCain/Palin.
I say we as Americans need to get behind Mr. Pickins and demand our new leaders, whomever they are, step up to the plate and take our future out of the hands of BIG OIL and do what is right for America.
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