milohimself
RIP CITY
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2004
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Was thinking in the $4/gal gas thread... Why not put this up? I was supposed to help run a drift competition today at Portland International Raceway, but it got canceled due to rain. So I ended up spending the last seven hours researching all the options I could with compressed natural gas cars. Here's what I came up with:
Why use a CNG car?
Honestly, I don't see any downsides to it. CNG is not very flammable, it has to be a 5-15% air to fuel ratio to be flammable. It's no worse than regular gas.
- It's far cheaper on a fuel-cost per mile basis: I'll get to that in a minute
- It reduces our dependency on foreign oil: 85% of natural gas used in the US is produced domestically
- Easy to get: You can refuel at home. We all have natural gas lines anyways
- Crazy low emissions: Say what you will about global warming, with all these other pluses, why not keep the tree huggers happy as well?
How do I get one?
This part can be a little tricky. If you're in the market for a new car, Honda is the only company in the US that current produces a car that runs off compressed natural gas, the Civic GX. They run about $25,000 new, though the fed. government offers a nice $4,000 tax break. Your state government might offer a nice tax break as well!
Another way would be to retrofit an existing car to run off of compressed natural gas. This part is a little tricky. Assuming you live in an area with emissions testing, it has to be done on a vehicle the EPA has approved for retrofitting. Not only that, but you have to use a kit that the EPA has approved to be effective. Not only that, but all the companies who make these kits don't simply sell them to the public; they are sold and installed either directly by the company themselves, or shops approved to do so.
The list of these cars and the applicable kits can be found here:
http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/marketplace/MP.Analyses.NGVs-a.pdf
As a side note to this, this option can be extremely expensive, and it's recommended to convert to a dedicated natural gas fuel source as many government rebates are not offered to bi-fuel vehicles.
The third option for purchasing a CNG vehicle is purchasing used. Every once in a while you can find them on Craigslist or Autotrader. But the number one user of CNG vehicles is actually the government, and you can sometimes find used CNG vehicles for sale through government auctions:
GovSales - Home Page
Truth is finding a used CNG vehicle can be tough, but is usually the most cost-effective way to get one. At least of what I've seen from the Civic GX's available, they are not that much more expensive than their regular petroleum gas counterparts. Don't forget to Google your heart out to find a car.
The only thing I haven't researched so far is possible tax incentives offered on the purchase of used CNG vehicles.
What about gassing this beast up?
I would assume most of you haven't seen CNG options at your local gas station. Probably well enough.
A list of stations you can get gas at can be found here:
Alternative Fuel Station Locator - Find
Just plug in your info and off you go.
Oh wait, I forgot: The totally awesome sweet kick-ass part about a natural gas car is that you can plug in from your home, right? Yeah. Well, a specific company by the name of FuelMaker made a cool product by the name of Phill that you can use to refuel your car at home. An installer comes out, installs this thing off an existing gas line -- anywhere around your house -- and it works charms. Easy to plug into your car, can fill overnight, etc. The Civic GX takes approx. 16 hours, but most of the time you're looking at a 6-8 hour refill, if that. This is reported from numerous owners. And you can disconnect at any time.
index
Although they don't price it, as I understand it's around the mid $5,000 range to have one of these bad boys put in your home, installed. Sounded high? Wait, you guessed it. More tax breaks! Starting with a $1,000 tax break. State-level breaks are also usually available, along with other benefits. Natural gas suppliers in California, for instance, gives customers with Phill installed in their homes a low flat-rate fee for natural gas.
Milo, give it to me straight, how much is this going to cost?
Well, this whole thing really depends on where you live. What are fuel costs? How much is natural gas in the area? Are CNG cars and components easily located? Are there state-level tax incentives? Here's a good link on things:
http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/FAQs_Converting_to_NGVs.pdf
Oregon, being the green state that it is, provides a relatively easy place for me to go CNG for my daily car. I plan on doing so. Some of you may as well, after reading all this. Some of you may not have the ability to do so easily. Talk to companies around the area who can help make this happen!
I've provided just a little info here and some sweet links. There's tons more to be discussed.
Why use a CNG car?
Honestly, I don't see any downsides to it. CNG is not very flammable, it has to be a 5-15% air to fuel ratio to be flammable. It's no worse than regular gas.
- It's far cheaper on a fuel-cost per mile basis: I'll get to that in a minute
- It reduces our dependency on foreign oil: 85% of natural gas used in the US is produced domestically
- Easy to get: You can refuel at home. We all have natural gas lines anyways
- Crazy low emissions: Say what you will about global warming, with all these other pluses, why not keep the tree huggers happy as well?
How do I get one?
This part can be a little tricky. If you're in the market for a new car, Honda is the only company in the US that current produces a car that runs off compressed natural gas, the Civic GX. They run about $25,000 new, though the fed. government offers a nice $4,000 tax break. Your state government might offer a nice tax break as well!
Another way would be to retrofit an existing car to run off of compressed natural gas. This part is a little tricky. Assuming you live in an area with emissions testing, it has to be done on a vehicle the EPA has approved for retrofitting. Not only that, but you have to use a kit that the EPA has approved to be effective. Not only that, but all the companies who make these kits don't simply sell them to the public; they are sold and installed either directly by the company themselves, or shops approved to do so.
The list of these cars and the applicable kits can be found here:
http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/marketplace/MP.Analyses.NGVs-a.pdf
As a side note to this, this option can be extremely expensive, and it's recommended to convert to a dedicated natural gas fuel source as many government rebates are not offered to bi-fuel vehicles.
The third option for purchasing a CNG vehicle is purchasing used. Every once in a while you can find them on Craigslist or Autotrader. But the number one user of CNG vehicles is actually the government, and you can sometimes find used CNG vehicles for sale through government auctions:
GovSales - Home Page
Truth is finding a used CNG vehicle can be tough, but is usually the most cost-effective way to get one. At least of what I've seen from the Civic GX's available, they are not that much more expensive than their regular petroleum gas counterparts. Don't forget to Google your heart out to find a car.
The only thing I haven't researched so far is possible tax incentives offered on the purchase of used CNG vehicles.
What about gassing this beast up?
I would assume most of you haven't seen CNG options at your local gas station. Probably well enough.
A list of stations you can get gas at can be found here:
Alternative Fuel Station Locator - Find
Just plug in your info and off you go.
Oh wait, I forgot: The totally awesome sweet kick-ass part about a natural gas car is that you can plug in from your home, right? Yeah. Well, a specific company by the name of FuelMaker made a cool product by the name of Phill that you can use to refuel your car at home. An installer comes out, installs this thing off an existing gas line -- anywhere around your house -- and it works charms. Easy to plug into your car, can fill overnight, etc. The Civic GX takes approx. 16 hours, but most of the time you're looking at a 6-8 hour refill, if that. This is reported from numerous owners. And you can disconnect at any time.
index
Although they don't price it, as I understand it's around the mid $5,000 range to have one of these bad boys put in your home, installed. Sounded high? Wait, you guessed it. More tax breaks! Starting with a $1,000 tax break. State-level breaks are also usually available, along with other benefits. Natural gas suppliers in California, for instance, gives customers with Phill installed in their homes a low flat-rate fee for natural gas.
Milo, give it to me straight, how much is this going to cost?
Well, this whole thing really depends on where you live. What are fuel costs? How much is natural gas in the area? Are CNG cars and components easily located? Are there state-level tax incentives? Here's a good link on things:
http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/FAQs_Converting_to_NGVs.pdf
Oregon, being the green state that it is, provides a relatively easy place for me to go CNG for my daily car. I plan on doing so. Some of you may as well, after reading all this. Some of you may not have the ability to do so easily. Talk to companies around the area who can help make this happen!
I've provided just a little info here and some sweet links. There's tons more to be discussed.
