3'sDad wrote:hit4power: So what you're saying is, "if the USA would like to be less dependant upon foreign fossil fuels, the mechanism to achieve this is not with the current version of the hybrid car, but with engines which use natural gas not petroleum."
I'm familiar with mass transit oriented vehicles (commuter buses) with run on natural gas, along with a few demonstration vehicles running with LPG, but that's about it. Does the technology exist to mass produce internal combustion engines to operate on natural gas and are the deilvery systems in place to distribute this so the consumer can "fill up the tank" when empty?
My uncle drove a natural gas vehicle (NGV) in the 70's. It was an easy conversion to the carburetor on his 75 Lincoln Continental. Hard part was mounting the tank in the trunk and running the line. He had the dual fuel type, so could burn regular gasoline, which you learn is great if you ever run out of CNG. You run out of CNG, in a CNG only vehicle, you are going to have to find someone with a CNG tank to come fill you up.
Honda sells an NGV http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-natural-gas/ More on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas#Cars.
They quit offering conversions in the 70's because a few vehicles blew up when the tanks were hit in accidents. I expect if someone like Honda is making them, they are making sure the tank is properly mounted.
From http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2010/03/24/470602.html
Just having US fleet 18 Wheelers switch to CNG we would reduce OPEC consumption by 50%. Those truck operators would reduce their fuel costs by 50%. We have minimum 200 year inventory of CNG in the United States.
