Why isn't natural gas an immediate alternative for gasoline?

Question

Why isn't natural gas an immediate alternative for gasoline?

Answer 1

Because of the cost.

Answer 2

Possibly because gasoline is a liquid and natural gas is a, well, gas.

Answer 3

It could be ,but methanol does not compress . That makes the tank very large.

Answer 4

This country is better able to supply fuel with natural gas than oil in my opinion. The problem is if we did switch to natural gas then we would be in the same boat as we are now just in maybe 20 more years or something. The reason is that Natural gas (methane) still comes out of the ground and is in limited reserves. there are methods of producing methane with trash piles manure but the technology to to produce it in large scale for the entire country still isn't there. I do believe that it is a good idea to use it because little modification to the engine is needed and what this country needs is a variety of fuels and not just one so that we never again are facing this problem

Answer 5

compressed natural gas(cng) needs heavy steel tanks to contain the fuel. these tanks are required to be inspected every 5 years. also cng filling stations are not widely available at this point in time, and filling up from your furnace gas line is not an option since it isnt at a high enough pressure, it comes to your house at about 1.5psi and you need more like 300psi, and second there are no road taxes paid on the gas to your house and the government gets rather testy when you dont pay your taxes.

Answer 6

Two basic reasons. Cost of conversion, and lack of infrastructure. We're simply not prepared to supply our entire automotive fleet using cng. And we never will be because natural gas is also a fossil fuel which is in decreasing supply.