This week I had the chance to look at a natural gas powered Honda Civic. It is the only passenger car built in the US to run on natural gas.
The manufacturer's suggested retail price was $18,155. Its fuel rating was 36 highway and 24 city for a combined 28.
The EPA sticker assumed an annual cost of $1,366 to run based on 15,000 miles traveled and a high $2.55 per gallon CNG cost. Price has been frequently below $2.
60% of parts are US or Canadian made. Honda is boosting US production to keep up with rising demand.
The gas powered Honda Civic: cheaper to run and cleaner.
Where would someone be able to fill their car?
ReplyDeleteWould the price of CNG go down if the infrastructure grew?
How much less does a CNG powered car pollute than a gasoline powered car?
If you have gas at home, you can have home fueling. There are about 1,000 natural gas fueling stations now operating in the country, with about 500 of them open to the public. The numbers are increasing but there needs to be federal and state policies adopted to accelerate deployment. The price of the fuel may be impacted by the number of stations. More competition could bring the price down. Natural gas, however, has a big price advantage right now--about $1.50 per gallon. Depending on the pollutant natural gas typically runs 25% to 75% cleaner than gasoline or diesel.
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the questions but this seems really important. Can cars be retrofitted to burn CNG or do you need a new car? Is the lack of a refueling infrastructure the main block to growth at this point? This seems like a no-brainer. A great way to reduce GHG emissions and other pollution as well as keep money and jobs at home. I see this as an issue that Obama and the Dems could run on.
ReplyDeleteCars, trucks just about all vehicles can be retrofitted to burn CNG. The approximately $2 per gallon spread between the cng and gasoline/diesel has made it a strong market. But retrofitting is a pain and major obstacle to cng. The main obstacles are the lack of vehicles built to run on cng on sale in USA. Honda Civic is the only passenger vehicle available here. Fiat and other automakers do make cng passenger vehicles but do not sell them here. Buses and trash trucks are two vehicles which are available in USA to run on CNG. About 26% of all buses bought now are CNG. CNG is doing very well with trash trucks where Waste Management is a CNG leader. Buses and trash trucks are fleet vehicles that return to a central station where a fueling station can be built. The comparatively but growing small number of public fueling stations is the second big obstacle to CNG in USA.
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