CNG Crown Vic experience
#1
05-04-2007, 06:26 PM
CNG Crown Vic experience
I signed up a while ago after my experience driving a FEH cab. Now I have a different experience to share - I recently started regularly driving a CNG-powered Crown Victoria cab. I'm posting because I am curious to know about other people's experiences.
The plusses outweigh the minuses, though there are a lot of both.
Power/Drivability: I believe (but have not researched extensively) that the engine is basically the same 4.6L V8 in the gas Crown Vics, except that the fuel delivery and maybe the timing is altered. In basic driving around town you really wouldn't notice a difference, though on steep uphill grades of the sort we have in San Francisco don't expect to be pulling any Bullitt stunts. Let's say that your stereotypical aggressive taxi driver will not be missing out on any opportunities.
Cargo: The compressed-gas tanks are ginormous and take up about 2/3 of the trunk space if you continue to carry around the normal-sized spare. Some cars are equipped with fewer tanks but this would limit range even further (see below.) Fortunately the car is still so huge that I have yet to run into any problems that couldn't be solved by using the front seat as trunk #2.
Range: A little inconvenient but not unbearable. I generally go about 100 miles in the city before I have to refuel. On the freeway the numbers are a lot better, other drivers have been reporting 200 miles on a freeway-heavy tank.
Economy: I haven't done the math yet to give a meaningful miles-per-gallon conversion, but in my estimates so far I get about 20 cents per mile mixed city/freeway and 14 cents per mile freeway only (70mph), compared to about 30 cents per mile mixed city/freeway with the gasoline cabs. I'd say I'm saving about $10/15 per day in fuel costs.
Other bonuses:
1) In SF, CNG cabs get one free pass per day per driver to the head of the line at the airport, which can end up being about a $40 bonus in addition to the fuel savings.
2) According to what I've been able to glean from the Department of Energy site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natur...tural_gas.html) most of the natural gas we consume in the US is sourced here, and 85% of the imported gas is from Canada and Mexico.
-ben
The plusses outweigh the minuses, though there are a lot of both.
Power/Drivability: I believe (but have not researched extensively) that the engine is basically the same 4.6L V8 in the gas Crown Vics, except that the fuel delivery and maybe the timing is altered. In basic driving around town you really wouldn't notice a difference, though on steep uphill grades of the sort we have in San Francisco don't expect to be pulling any Bullitt stunts. Let's say that your stereotypical aggressive taxi driver will not be missing out on any opportunities.
Cargo: The compressed-gas tanks are ginormous and take up about 2/3 of the trunk space if you continue to carry around the normal-sized spare. Some cars are equipped with fewer tanks but this would limit range even further (see below.) Fortunately the car is still so huge that I have yet to run into any problems that couldn't be solved by using the front seat as trunk #2.
Range: A little inconvenient but not unbearable. I generally go about 100 miles in the city before I have to refuel. On the freeway the numbers are a lot better, other drivers have been reporting 200 miles on a freeway-heavy tank.
Economy: I haven't done the math yet to give a meaningful miles-per-gallon conversion, but in my estimates so far I get about 20 cents per mile mixed city/freeway and 14 cents per mile freeway only (70mph), compared to about 30 cents per mile mixed city/freeway with the gasoline cabs. I'd say I'm saving about $10/15 per day in fuel costs.
Other bonuses:
1) In SF, CNG cabs get one free pass per day per driver to the head of the line at the airport, which can end up being about a $40 bonus in addition to the fuel savings.
2) According to what I've been able to glean from the Department of Energy site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natur...tural_gas.html) most of the natural gas we consume in the US is sourced here, and 85% of the imported gas is from Canada and Mexico.
-ben
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