The Cleanest Cars on Earth?: Honda Civic GX and Other Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs)
Clean Burning Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) are hot commodities in some parts of the country, where fuel can sell for as low as $0.63 per gallon.
Unlike the world’s most fuel efficient car (VW’s 285 MPG bullet), the Honda Civic GX looks like a standard passenger vehicle. What makes it special is what you don’t see: tailpipe emissions that are often cleaner than ambient air.
The Civic GX is powered by compressed natural gas—methane—the simplest and cleanest-burning hydrocarbon available. With an economical 113-hp, 1.8-Liter engine, the EPA has called the Civic the “world’s cleanest internal-combustion vehicle” with 90% cleaner emissions than the average gasoline-powered car on the road in 2004.
And get this: in Utah, natural gas can be purchased for $0.63 per gallon.
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At $24,590, buying a new Civic GX won’t exactly break your bank account, especially since up to $7,000 will come back to you in the form of state and federal tax credits. But don’t expect to find one easily. The car is only sold in two states, New York and California, and Honda can’t build them fast enough. One dealership said they have over 80 people waiting to buy.
I saw the plans for the hydrogen engine back in 85, and that time I thought it would be the answer. I believe if we put a concentrated effort, and a lot of money behind the project. It would work for the masses. Problem, is that is still difficult to charge for water, However I was the one who thought water bottling companies would never stay in business. Go fiquire.
If we could put a man on the moon with 60’s technology, there is nothing we cannot do if as a nation we focus.
I see both ethanol, and Natural gas as only temp fixes, maybe we need to create a national mandate to leap ahead, and make cars run on hydrogen,and maybe we would see smog as a thing of the past.
Regarding the explosive potential of either fuel, gasoline has a much lower flash point than natural gas. Gasoline will explode (flash point) at 250 degrees Fahrenheit as opposed to 1100 degrees Fahrenheit for natural gas. Which sounds more explosive to you?
Pickens owns gazillions of cubic feet of natural gas.
Pickens has alot of gas to sell.
Liquified natural gas for cars is nothing new. This has been on the market for well over 20 years and several vehicles were converted to run on it.
As far as Clayton’s comment “Most of the sources say that because natural gas doesn’t pool as a liquid, but instead immediately evaporates, that it’s less likely to ignite.”
Fuels do not egnite as a liquid. They need to be brought to a gasious stage first. Hence the term “Flash Point.” This is the temperature a fuels has to be at before it will ignite. Pretty much the same temperature required to convert that liquid to a gas.
As for whether your car will explode or not, I guess as long as you don’t go the French route and put your tank behind the rear bumper….
http://allautomobile.blogspot.com
The article incorrectly states that the Civic GX is only available for sale in NY and CA. My local Honda dealer (Joe Marina Honda) in Tulsa, OK has been selling and servicing the Civic GX ever since it was introduced by Honda in 1998. The salesman who specializes in the GX at Joe Marina Honda currently has about 75 people who have paid a $500 deposit and signed a contract to buy a GX when they arrive. Honda can’t make as many of these as they can sell. Honda reported record profits last quarter; Ford reported a $8+ billion loss last quarter. Honda pays attention to the trends, so they’re seeing the payoff. American car companies only give lip service to progress on alternative fuels for PR purposes, so they’re missing out. I’ve been sending emails to GM, Ford, and Chrysler for about a years trying to encourage them to bring back the CNG models they used to sell. Not only have they not done it, but they don’t care enough to even respond to my emails. Because of their leaders’ incompetence, I don’t feel sorry for them for losing so much money. I hope our government doesn’t bail them out if they fail. We need to leave the proper risk/rewards in place to encourage car companies to do the right thing for consumers and the environment.
By the way, I own a 2007 Honda Civic GX (purchased 8/07) as well as a 2000 Ford Contour SE CNG/gasoline bifuel 4-door car.
I have a question. Did the Chicago stcokyards ever
provide methane gas to the city for lights, cooking
and heating? If this thought is true, I am remembering it from 7th or 8th geography class. I am
approaching 80 years of age. Anyone out there have
the same memory?
I have been working as a U.S. contractor in Colombia for the past five years. In Colombia, many cities (more abundantly in the Caribbean coast) have dozens of CNG public stations. A large number of taxis and public buses run on CNG. It is amazing to me that in the U.S. we don’t do the same! I will look into opening my own CNG public station back home. That is, if the government doesn’t swamp me with infinite restrictions to do so…
Jack is correct about the revised amount of natural gas available. What has changed is a combination of new technology and new discovery of huge amounts of gas from profitably recoverable gas shales such as the Barnett, Marcellus, and now the apparently largest Haynesville shale. Chesapeake Energy has predicted that the Haynesville Shale located in Northwest Louisiana alone has 245 Tcf of recoverable gas. A bi-fuel vehicle,CNG and flex-fuel could be a great solution. A small CNG tank could provide for about 50+ miles to work and back with the liquid fuel for longer trips. This would be similar to the Chevy VOLT concept of using the grid supplied battery power for the first 40 miles each day.