Why haven't natural gas powered vehicles become more popular?

Question

I would think a large percent of people have natural gas for their homes. They could refill the cars at their homes very quickly. I would think it would be less expensive than gasoline. It would burn much cleaner than gasoline.

Answer 1

they are way too expensive and inefficient

Answer 2

What a lot of people don't realize is that it takes 2 units of natural gas to do the same things as 1 unit of gasoline.

So the cost would be as high if not higher.

Answer 3

The main reason more natural gas powered vehicles aren't available is because there isn't a refueling network out there...  Sure, you'll find the occasional station that will also supply natural gas, but it is not readily available for refueling.  

As for the home fueling stations, if I remember correctly those things cost around $1,000 to have installed, and the small compressor will take about eight hours to refill your tank from your home supply.  

That being said, I worked with a guy who worked in the "oil patch" in Wyoming, and one of the company trucks was a dual-fuel vehicle, and the mechanic informed him that the engine didn't have the sludge or near the problems as a conventional gas-powered vehicle...

One other thing:  With the number of homes using natural gas for heating, and the number of electric utilities using natural gas to fire their boilers to produce electricity, threre have been times in the last couple of years that the actual supply of natural gas has been running a bit thin.  Couple that with the vehement opposition that many environmental groups throw at any attempts to drill wells for natural gas, and you'll see the actual supply of that commodity starting to dwindle - just like petroleum...

Answer 4

We have been there and already tried natural gas. It didn't work.

In the early 70's the dooms day media hype at that time was there would ABSOLUTELY be no oil left on the planet in 10 years. A few dooms day scientist dreamed it up, and the media hyped it, and it was taught in all the schools as fact.

Lots of vehicles were converted to natural gas, and Chrysler / Dodge came out with several vehicles that were natural gas powered vehicles / gasoline engines. They had dual fuel intake systems and the operator switched to the system that used whichever fuel he could get at the time.

In actual road performance, natural gas does not produce the power needed to transport goods, and gives poor performance under loads such as going up hill.  

In the end, economics killed the Natural Gas powered engines. Natural gas gets around 60% of the distance a comparable energy load of gasoline gives you. Gasoline got you farther, faster and for less $$.  

So when 10 years came and went and the oil wells were still pumping, Natural Gas engines became an interesting experimental footnote in history.

Answer 5

it costs too much to change the way vehicles are produced and to change all of the tanks etc.  Plus the oil companies are most likely bribing the makers of vehicles to not make cars that would run with natural gas so that they can keep making money.  This is sort of like the EV1 car.  You should watch who killed the electric car.  You could learn alot.

Answer 6

first were did you read that people could fill there own tanks at home. not a chance maybe you should visit a place that actually fills tanks and see whats involved. and LNG vehicles are around in major metro areas only.  Because they're cleaner and the don't have to go far before refueling. they have a relatively short range that's the problem with storing a gas takes up a lot of space for a relatively small amount of energy.

Answer 7

Well the only new natural gas vehicle available is the Honda Civic GX.  As you can see from the link below, its environmental impact is on par with the Civic hybrid and Prius.  However, the GX costs a bit more.  While refueling does cost less, it also doesn't have the mileage efficiency of the hybrids.

On top of that, you have to lease the equipment to hook up to your home natural gas system to refuel at home.  If I recall correctly, this is an additional $75/month.  And the only place you can refuel is at home.

Plus natural gas is still a fossil fuel and non-renewable resource.

So basically it's no more environmentally friendly than a hybrid, but costs more and has less convenience.  That's why they're not more popular.

*edit* Prius does more environmental damage than a Hummer is a myth.  It's based on a study done by a marketing company.  Not surprisingly, when a marketing company tries to do a scientific study, they make all kinds of terrible assumptions which lead to incorrect results.

Do a Google search for "Dust to Dust debunk" if you want to see the many errors made in that study.

A *scientific* study by the Swiss government showed that the Prius is the greenest car on the planet.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNe...

Answer 8

cuz they are exp

Answer 9

because oil companies are lobbying to keep us from using natural gas and renewable sources of energy since most, if not all of their investments are in fossil fuel. and believe me they are a greedy bunch.

Answer 10

I worked for Ford for 6 years.  I had a chance to drive a NG car and truck for awhile.  They are expensive to run, are terribly inefficient and a terrible on power.  It was like driving a moped.  It lacked power very badly.

Answer 11

It will loose about 15% of its power on natural gas.

Answer 12

Although natural gas is cleaner than gasoline, it IS still a fossil fuel, and it will be depleted before gasoline is. Also, home filling would require the ability to increase the pressure again, unless you wanted to bypass the gas meter entirely. And that sounds kinda illegal.

Answer 13

Using natural gas would actually cost more. Here check this out. http://discovermagazine.com/2007/dec/12_...  its a breakdown of several different possible fuels.

Answer 14

High pressure would cause huge explosions in an accident.

Answer 15

Yes, I have considered converting my car to natural gas. There are mechanics who will do that for you . The equipment is readily available.

Yes, there are systems designed to be connected to your home natural gas supply where a compressor will compress the natural gas  from your house supply to the pressure that you need for the tanks on the car.

Contrary to what one responder said this does not bypass your gas meter and it is not illegal. In fact you work wityh your utility to connect to the natural gas supply. You are not hiding anything from them. Your utility will be very happy to work with you because that way they sell more natural gas. In fact I found out about converting my car to natural gas from the utility that provides natural gas to my home.

It does require a special building permit from the city building department, however. There are a lot of hoops that you have to jump through. However my local building department has assured me that If I am willing to jump through all of the hoops they will give me a building permit for a home refueling station for natural gas.

With respect to cost, that will vary by what your local utility charges for natural gas. My local utility charges less on an energy content basis for natural gas than I pay for gasooline with a similar energy content, But not all utilities are the same. Some charge more and others charge less.

With respect to the responder who said that LPG is $3.50 per gallon, we are not talking about LPG we are talking about natural gas from the natural gas supply to your home. Those are two very different issues. Although you can also convert to LPG if you wish, however LPG is much more expensive than natural gas.

With respect to the responder who said the natural gas tanks are dagerous because they can explode in a crash. They are no more dangerous than a standard gasoline tank in a crash.

Answer 16

Becuase the gas tanks would tend to explode every time you crash. Makes it very unpopular for people who are afraid of getting burned alive, like me.

Answer 17

Propane is now $3.50 a gallon in Phoenix.  No big savings there eh?