Natural Gas Moves Cars - July 17, 2009

Natural Gas Moves Cars - July 17, 2009

The CNG-powered Honda Civic GX is available here in North Carolina and, to the best of my knowledge, in all U.S. states. There are also natural gas-fueled alternatives offered by Ford including the compact Focus and the mid-size Fusion. For specialized fleet uses there are many choices of CNG including sedans, pickups, vans (including offerings by GM and Ford), medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Natural gas may seem a limited offering to the general public but it is re-emerging as an excellent alternative fuel choice for transit, refuse haulers, and municipalities. It is an excellent fuel for school bus fleets since a CNG engine operates more cleanly and quietly than a diesel. There is no one single best answer to solve our reliance on petroleum. CNG is an excellent choice for many applications.

Joseph O'Neill
Transportation Program Specialist
North Carolina Solar Center
NC State University

Nothing new here. When I worked in Chicago in the ‘70s, DOE had several hydrogen-powered vehicles that employees used for commuting and then parked in the Federal Center plaza for people to look over. When I worked in Vancouver, B.C. in the ‘90s all commercial vehicles operating within the city were required to use alternative fuels and natural gas was the most popular. I recall sitting in a taxi while the driver refueled at the depot. Hearing the fuel tank make funny pinging noises while being pressurized was an interesting experience. Here in Denver, natural gas conversions for Ford pickups are available for a few thousand dollars. All it takes is for the price of gasoline to get sufficiently high.

David S. Galpin, PE

Your article on natural gas-powered vehicles is a good one, but I wonder if the sources are really objective about the possibility of plug-in electric cars. I also think that hydrogen will never be more than a niche since it is hard to make, store and transport. Only if you make it at point of use does it make any sense and then you need to use it quickly. Fleet applications make sense but individuals not so much.

Thanks for showing all that is already being done to address "global warming" without excessive government regulation or a "cap and trade" system that is very expensive and has not proved effective for CO2 where it is currently being used.

Barry Alexander

You wrote:

"As for AT&T, it says that it will spend $350 million converting the original 8,000 vehicles. It will then spend another $215 million phasing out 7,000 additional cars and replacing them with those that are more fuel efficient. It's an investment that the company says will pay off in the form of lower transportation costs."

You know, I don't understand large numbers; and whenever I see two large numbers related to the same phenomenon, I divide one by the other. In this case, $350 million to convert 8,000 vehicles comes out to $40,000 per vehicle. And to replace 7,000 cars with more efficient comes out to $30,000 per car. (That's money from my telephone bill!)

And take 10 years to do this? Do their cars last longer? They ought to just replace the cars as they wear out and buy LNG vehicles then -- do LNG (CNG) vehicles have a $30K-$40K premium over gasoline? Detroit ought to be able to crank that down by a factor of 10 in the next 10 years.

And where is the government in this picture? GSA surely has the largest fleet in the country (world?) except maybe for the Department of Defense.

Finally, Honda is blowing smoke about hydrogen: where do you get it? (cracking methane); how do you transport it and store it? See Romm's "The hype about hydrogen."

Sorry to dump on you -- your stuff is always so good that this one just stands out and asks to be shot down.

Berol Robinson