A Report From The Field On A Compressed Natural Gas Car

Tuesday's Wall Street Journal carried an article by staff writer Joseph White entitled "Taking Natural Gas for a Spin."

Explicitly referencing Boone Pickens' current push for the use of compressed natural gas in US cars, White sensibly decided to see what it would be like to operate one. Since the topic is one about which I've written in prior posts, and it offers a nice break from writing about the current financial sector debacle, I thought I'd express some thoughts about Mr. White's article.

I liked Mr. White's article. He is clear in his intent and description of his experience. Some excerpts from his article,

"The question for consumers is whether a compressed-gas-fueled vehicle is a better deal.

The only natural gas car on the U.S. market right now is a Honda Civic GX. Honda Motor Co. let me borrow one for a few days to road test the NGV (natural-gas vehicle) lifestyle.
Driving the Civic GX isn't different than driving a standard, petrol-fueled car. My white test car had an automatic transmission and the usual bells and whistles. The adventure of driving a natural-gas fueled Civic only starts when the fuel gauge gets close to empty – and that happens fairly quickly because the car's range is only 200 to 220 miles between fill-ups.

At this point, you'll need an Internet connection to help you find a public natural-gas vehicle refueling station in your metro area. Only if you are fortunate will you find one in your ZIP code, because there are only about 1,100 natural-gas refueling stations in the U.S. The closest one to my house was about 18 miles away at a depot owned by the City of Ann Arbor.

The unmanned refueling station had an imposing looking pump with two hoses that dispensed compressed gas at different pressures. The Civic's manual explained that I should use the one marked 3600 pounds per square inch. Behind the Civic GX's fuel door is a nozzle fitting. After a couple of tries, I got the fitting from the high-pressure hose properly locked on, and threw a lever on the pump to "On" to start the flow.

I realize it was irrational and techno-phobic to worry that I would somehow overfill the compressed gas tank on board the car and turn my Civic into an explosive device. Let's say that I was nervous enough that I had done something wrong that when the pump shut off automatically, I was relieved, even though the system had only refilled the tank to the half-full mark. Mr. Pickens could add another element to his plan: It will create jobs for filling station attendants who can help nervous natural-gas newbies.

Because there is little demand for natural-gas vehicles, the ones that are available come with a hefty price premium, in part because their fuel tanks aren't molded plastic, but are instead heavily engineered, high-pressure tanks. A Civic GX lists for about $24,590, compared to about $17,760 for the mid-range Civic LX on which it is based. Tax credits can offset as much as $4,000 of that price. And in some states, natural-gas cars can use high-occupancy vehicle express lanes – a major perk for time-pressed commuters.

Mr. Kolodziej says he refuels his Civic GX using a Phill home-fueling system. This costs about $5,000 and allows a natural-gas vehicle owner to refuel overnight with gas from the lines running into the house. (A $1,000 tax credit is available for the Phill system.) But the hardware in Mr. Kolodziej's garage isn't all that's different. He also says he doesn't care that the vehicle has a limited range and takes hours to refill using the home refueling device.

"I go to work. I go to the store," he says. "That's what 99% of people do. Americans want to be able to drive to California tomorrow. They won't."

Mr. Kolodziej, president of NGV America, a Washington advocacy group that represents about 100 natural-gas companies and other enterprises with a stake in promoting natural gas as a motor fuel, would say that. But he's right. A switch to natural-gas cars would require a change of attitudes and expectations both by consumers and car makers. More of us would need to accept owning a car that can do one job – commuting and running errands in fewer than 200 miles a day. It's the same fundamental proposition behind plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt or plug-in Prius.

The big hurdle for natural-gas vehicles is that somebody will need to invest substantial sums in a consumer refueling infrastructure. The gas industry was hoping that somebody would be Uncle Sam. Unfortunately, Congress just found out last week it may have to spend $700 billion salvaging the global financial system. That could put big federal subsidies for natural-gas cars – and a lot of other worthy ideas -- on the back burner."

The last few paragraphs are of particular interest to me. As I have written previously, here and here, Pickens has glided over some fairly important barriers to widespread acceptance by the American public of his cherished CNG-fueled cars.

Mr. White confirms that fueling will be a problem for the foreseeable future, both due to few fueling facilities, and the rather more complicated act of actually refueling a CNG-fueled car. He also reinforces some of Mike Jackson's comments on the unsuitability of these cars to Americans who would actually have to pay for them, rather than buy other, gasoline-powered cars.

Let's just say, based on Mr. White's review, I won't plan to be buying a CNG-fueled vehicle anytime soon.