Posted on 10/17/2013 6:06:17 AM PDT by thackney
Capitalizing on America’s abundant supply of clean-burning, low-cost natural gas, General Motors said Wednesday it will build a Chevrolet Impala sedan that can operate on either gasoline or compressed natural gas and travel up to 500 miles between fill-ups.
The bi-fuel Impala, which goes on sale summer as a 2015 model, could be the start of something big. Honda Motor has been selling a natural gas-powered Civic since 2011 and while still modest, sales have been steadily rising. The Japanese carmaker is on track to sell about 2,500 CNG Civics this year, up from 1,900 in 2012 and 1,200 the year before. In July, Ford Motor said its most popular vehicle, the F-150 pickup, will be offered with a compressed natural gas engine starting in the 2014 model year.
“Natural gas will grow increasingly attractive as an alternative fuel source, as we’ve seen each year with natural gas Honda Civic sales, particularly in areas like California where HOV lane access is available,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “The lack of infrastructure remains a hurdle, but if more automakers begin to offer CNG-powered vehicles, we could see a greater push for access to CNG in the years to come.”
The Impala’s bi-fuel powertrain is engineered to switch seamlessly from CNG to gasoline, which should reassure consumers worried about finding a place to refuel. For business fleet customers, whose drivers return to a central location, CNG refueling shouldn’t be a problem. GM did not announce the new car’s price, which is likely to be higher than the standard gas model, but savings at the pump could offset that extra payout quickly.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I agree CNG is a good option. However, the last company in existence that could do it justice is GM. They should starve and go out of business.
I guess you could say that Dynamite, Black Powder and Nitroglycerin are safe also. It is a relative statement. I don’t want to hunt down a place to get high pressure natural gas just to drive a car. It is a risk and hassle that I am not ready to take. Why not get gas prices back under $2.00 a gallon and leave the exotic fuels to the hobbyists. Rational fuel prices would expand the economy greatly and give freedom of travel back to the people.
My 2005 E320 CDI regularly goes 600 miles on a tank, plus or minus. In mixed driving, I average 30 mpg, but on one roundtrip from the Annapolis area to Ocean City, Maryland, I got 40 mpg, even with stop-and-go traffic in the Easton - Cambridge area, at speeds of 65 mph - 75 mph.
sitetest
LNG is not going to be economic for consumers like you and I. It works great for fleet service or long-haul trucking. But the need to either keep the engine running or the tank temperature below -260°F after a few days of non-use is not going be an economic solution for a daily driver.
Wishing will not make it so. Pretending that the cost to produce oil in the shale fields is no different than older conventional fields won't make it true.
You should google all the suppliers from fuel lines, fuel injection and the tankage involved. All the certified retrofitters meet all the Govt alphabet soup certifications, but you should look into the tanks for CNG made out of spun and welded aluminum rapped in Carbon-Fiber/Graphite, that meet all crash requirements...
What? I don't think you've done much research into this, have you? There's no refrigeration on LNG tanks.
At 28 mpg, my Impala is getting 400 + to the tank now.
Stories like this with insufficient information (no, I have not bothered to read the full article about a GM vehicle) are like the friend why says,
"My car gets GREAT gas mileage!"
"Really, how much?"
"Well, I filled up last Friday and am still showing a quarter tank remaining!"
Insurance companies that evaluate cost and risk have figured out that CNG is safer than gasoline.
Data collected over time has demonstrated natural gas vehicles to be safe in actual operation. Based on a survey of 8,331 natural gas utility, school, municipal and business fleet vehicles (NGVs) that traveled 178.3 million miles:
• The NGV fleet vehicle injury rate was 37% lower than the gasoline fleet vehicle rate.
• There were no fatalities compared with 1.28 deaths per 100 million miles for gasoline fleet vehicles
the sad part being, of course, that by law Ugandan gas stations are 1,000 miles apart
You can probably get around that one.
Has anyne tried a car gas turbine yet?
As for as the tank exploding in a collision,I have to call Bull Crap. This ain't 1935. Some fear mongers
sound a lot like today's crop of civil rights activists who are stuck in the 1960s
LOL!!!
There's no refrigeration on LNG tanks.
No. The insulated tanks must also be designed to withstand the increasing pressure for a typical span of 5 days. After that point, they start venting fuel if nothing else is done to reduce the temperature. This is not going to be acceptable in a residential environment.
No it could it not. I didn't realize CNG had that kind of costs savings on a doller per mile traveled basis.
A compressor must be used to put the gas into your car while parked in your garage. The compressor cost $10,000 and takes 8 to 16 hours to recharge the tank depending on tank size. No one ever mentions this little detail about CNG vehicles.
I just re-read some of your posts and you are right on in your support of LNG. However, you are confusing LNG with CNG when talking about low temp tanks. Sorry if my last post was snarky but I thought you were the one poo-pooing LNG.
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