Does anyone here own a cng car?

[JayFarrar]

Cng = compressed natural gas. Popular on the coasts, while few and far between in the heartland.
honda is the only carmaker that currently has a model readily available.

 

[YankeeFan]

Cng = compressed natural gas. Popular on the coasts, while few and far between in the heartland.
honda is the only carmaker that currently has a model readily available.

How easy is it to fill up, even on either coast?

My ex had a City car assigned to her about 10 years ago that ran on both.

The CNG tank took up most of the trunk. But, even working for the City, it was a pain to fill up, so it always ran on regular gas.

I've seen some taxi cabs with CNG tanks in the trunk too.

I could see it working for some government entities & companies with fleets, but unless they really create incentives for manufacturers, purchasers & fueling stations, it's going to take a while before there's real growth.

 

[Boomer7]

I could see it working for some government entities & companies with fleets, but unless they really create incentives for manufacturers, purchasers & fueling stations, it's going to take a while before there's real growth.

Therein lies the problem. The lack of infrastructure makes rapid, significant growth of CNG vehicles extremely unlikely ... which is how a rather staunch capitalist like T. Boone Pickens is trying to schmooze every politician he can in order to get massive incentives from the government in order to make it happen. That whole Pickens Plan might be a big hit on college campuses (he is a charismatic guy, no doubt), but the devil is in the details: You can't store wind energy, and you can't instantly build enough fueling stations to support CNG demand.

That said, there is a device called a Phill which you can attach to your home natural gas line and use it to gas up your car overnight. For short trips, it'll get the job done.

 

[JayFarrar]

I've done a story on a person with a home Phill unit. He goes to the gas station, maybe, once a month.

What's interesting to me is the backers act like once CNG stations are built, then people will run out and buy the cars or get their current rides converted over.

I just don't see that happening, especially with commercially available electric cars soon to be coming off the production line. If I can go to my local dealer and buy a Volt, in the next year or two, and really believe that technology works, why would I go and buy a CNG car?

I just don't see it.