Chapter Eleven
What is NGV & CNG?
Currently, natural gas is abundant and cheap. However, because of the technological and legal hurdles involved in converting a car to run on natural gas, it can cost thousands of dollars. Is it worth it? Let run the numbers and see.
Let’s start off by discussing that the only way to convert a vehicle to natural gas is by hiring a certified compressed"natural"gas (CNG) installer to do the job.
Your biggest expense is going to be the compressed natural gas fuel tank. Then, you have a fuel regulator that takes the 3600 psi fuel tank pressure and drops it to 125 psi. You can then hook it to a home compressor that will cost thousands and take hours to fill or you can go to a station that charges anywhere from .85 cents to $1.65 for the equivalent of a gallon of gas.
With total installation costs running from $5,000 to $10,000, at $3.25 per gallon of regular gas, that would buy you 1,538 to 3,076 gallons of gasoline. Research has shown that as gas prices creep up to the $5.00 range, more people gravitate to converting their car. A $5,000 to $10,000 investment could then buy you only 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of fuel.
If you drive the average 15,000 miles per year, and your car gets an average of 22 miles per gallon, you would buy 681 gallons of fuel in a given year.
So is natural gas the way to go? It depends on you having the upfront investment of $5,000 to $10,000 first. If you do, then it might. Keep in mind you will be losing trunk space for the natural gas tanks too.
Let’s dig a little deeper to better understand what NGV & CNG are. A natural gas vehicle or NGV is an alternative fuel vehicle that uses compressed natural gas (CNG.) There is also liquefied natural gas (LNG.) Natural gas vehicles should not be confused with those powered by propane (LPG), which has a fundamentally different composition and has increased in price to match gasoline.
Your existing gasoline"powered vehicle can be converted to run on CNG, LNG or the gasoline you currently use. Diesel engines for heavy trucks and busses can also be converted to run on these systems. An increasing number of vehicles worldwide are being manufactured to run on CNG. Until recently, the Honda Civic GX was the only NGV commercially available in the US market. Since that time, Ford, GM and Ram have added bi"fuel offerings to their vehicle lineup. Fords approach is to offer a bi"fuel prep kit as a factory option, and then have the customer choose an authorized partner to install the natural gas equipment. Choosing GM's bi"fuel option sends the HD pickups with the 6.0L gasoline engine to IMPCO in Indiana to up fit the vehicle to run on CNG. Ram currently is the only pickup truck manufacturer with a truly factory" installed bi"fuel system available in the U.S. market.
The good news is that NGV filling stations are popping up all over the place because they can be located anywhere that natural gas lines exist. Compressors (CNG) or liquefaction plants (LNG) are usually built on a large scale, but small home refueling stations are possible with CNG.
CNG can also be mixed with biogas, which is produced from landfills or wastewater. These biogases also don’t contribute to the concentration of carbon in our atmosphere. With that all being said, you can breath deep and not worry as much about the poisonous particulates you are breathing as compared to years ago, or can you?
“I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted paychecks.”