So I was reading something, and a few words (unrelated subject) sparked off an idea in my head. (yes simple minds, easily distracted, etc...)

So when I was in the Air Force a few years back, or regular gas powered service trucks (std street type like F-150, or chevy , etc brands) where all converted to run on CNG.
Our Escapes run on the same gas that these cars were desinged for also...
So why not convert our hybrids to CNG dual fuel vehicles?

What's the price of CNG these days anyway? Gotta be less than $3.00 per gallon equivelent.

Guess the big drawbacks would be intial cost (gotta be a lot less than a PHev), and the added weight/space of the storage tank. Cng should be a lot cleaner also, less emmisions then even a PHEV (accounting for that power plant burning coal/xxx to make the electricity you are pumping into your battery)

 

I used to have CNG only vehicles for about 5 years. At the time i lived in Los Angeles and there are CNG stations all over the place. I moved to Texas in 05 and there are just a few stations around so I wound up going hybrid. I had a 08 FEH and loved it but wanted higher MPG so I went with an 05 Prius and a 08 TCH. I too would love to do a conversion to CNG the problem is really tankage and weight of said tanks. The rest would in theory be quite easy. I have a website which has a video on how safe CNG really is! its much safer than gasoline. anyway as far as price of CNG goes it seems to be anywhere from .50c to $1.00 cheaper. And in some areas its even cheaper. in OKC its like .90c if you wanna look at the video go to my site. www.cngrevolution.com

 

A CNG hybrid would be awesome, you could fill it at home for less than $2 a gallon. Many of the additional costs would be offset by tax incentives. Only disadvantage would be range.
However, the EPA has strict regulations and a certification process for installing CNG conversions. 3000+psi of flammable gas isn't really the domain of a weekend DIY project, especially with the reprogramming of the engine computer and safety considerations.

 

Found this site while researching, says any make/model/engine. So I shot them an email... All I got back as a "No"

No explanations or reasons, just No. So oh well it was a good idea.
As for range, the CNG's I drove in the AF were dual fuel, so you ran until the CNG was out, then it switched over to gas. Man can you imangine a 800-1000 mile non-stop trip in an FEH?! (combined CNG/Gas tanks) Not that I ever go further than 10 miles from home anyway

But if the install price was right, good tax incentives, and CNG was still only ~$1 here in OKC it'll well be worth it, save $2-3/gal $24-$36 saved per fill up, payback would happen very quickly!

 

3 weeks ago I bought a new Honda GX (only new GNG car available at present). I love it, but refueling takes a lot more planning. Yes, you can fuel at home, but for a price. The machines available to compress it to 3600psi are expensive and slow. Slow is good in one respect, in that it get more gas into the tank, because it doesn't get as hot from compression. Fuel in Utah is running about 62 cents per GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent). Here in NorCal, PG&E has many 24 hour stations at $2.42 per GGE, and other places in the Bay Area range from 2.17 to 2.56 per GGE. The car is getting about 40 mpg, so if you're buying $4.00 gas, you'd have to be getting close to 70 mpg to equal the miles per dollar. Plus the resale value on a CNG car is extremely high right now

 

So what's your standard range and how long does it take to refuel?

 

Home refueling would only yield about .4 GGE per hour (a $4000 machine), or about 1 GGE per hour with the $10,000 machine. At the fast-fill stations, it takes about 5 minutes or so, like a regular car. I tend to go about 200 miles between fills, but again, planning is crucial, but is easier if you use it in the same general routes.

I never expect to go over 200 miles per tank, and plan accordingly, though I have went furthur when around multiple fueling sources, like in the Bay Area.

As an example, since I live in about 85 miles from San Jose (Los Banos), and there is only 1 place to fill in Los Banos (and none in between), I never leave San Jose without enough fuel to make it round trip, in case the Los Banos station is down for some reason. So even if I have only driven 50 miles, I fill again before leaving San Jose.