CNG powered cars comeback?

RandomAccess

It would appear some car manufacturers are once again looking at Natural GAS as a cleaner substitute for Petrol cars. But apart from conversion and bi-fuel models are their any true CNG engined cars out there. I mean surely a dedicated engine would be able to provide better performance than a simple conversion or flex fuel vehicle?

And what about turbo engines, can they be converted to CNG or even wankel rotaries...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/01/us-dealtalk-autos-natgas-idUKTRE76047G20110701

RandomAccess

Sort of found one, though its more of a dedicated factory conversion than a greenfield design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Civic_GX

R.O.R

Are CNG and LPG the same thing?

Vauxhall used to sell dual fuel (LPG and Petrol) cars in the UK. Remember walking past a few with an LPG filler cap on.

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/vauxhall-vectra-1.8-dualfuel-range-1003754.html

RandomAccess

It appears the terms equate to different mixtures/types of gas.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_differences_between_LPG_and_CNG

It looks like both are used in cars, though not sure if the conversions are specific to one or the other.

VolvoMan

Volvo offered CNG cars for a good long period. You could even buy them here, although I only ever saw about two.

Is there anywhere where you can still buy LPG?

L1011

Fiat sell bucketloads of CNG cars in Italy

I cover the entire country and I've seen TWO stations that appeared to have working LPG installations, and one or two where there was one present but in extremely bad condition.

Matt Simis

CNG and LPG are not the same, not the same fuel, tanks, pipes or performance. LPG is very petrol like by comparison. CNG generally has lower performance and requires vastly higher pressures which in turn means much heavier equipment in cars. It also requires that warning star on the back of the car with the CNG logo/Compressed Gas onboard etc.


Ive seen quite a few commercial CNG vehicles recently, wonder where they get fuel and the price?

RandomAccess

Matt Simis wrote: »

Ive seen quite a few commercial CNG vehicles recently, wonder where they get fuel and the price?

Larger fleets like UPS or DHL could probably provide their own refuelling infrastructure at a depot. I guess its more likely to be viable in cities with pollution based congestion charges, such as London.

I thought I read something a while back about Ireland getting a terminal where ships would unload the stuff, google turns up this from 2006,
http://www.independent.ie/business/new-lng-plant-to-secure-supply-90530.html

it looks like it had been intended to be coming on-stream around now, but the most recent info on the wikipedia entry hints at legal wrangles and I don't know if work has even started on the project.

A recent advert from Lexus/Toyota made mention of the fact that their hybrid cars could be adapted to any fuels of the future, bio fuels and so on. A Gas powered hybrid would be a pretty neat idea as it should be able to compensate for some of the performance deficit and would be even cleaner at the tailpipe.

RandomAccess

Quite a few outlets listed on the 'Irish LPG Association' (who knew there was one !?) website
http://www.ilpga.ie/autogas-outlets.php

None listed in Dublin though, but the list may not be exhaustive.

Calorgas.ie states that its not available in ROI
http://www.calorgas.ie/calor-at-home/uses/autogas/

Calorgas.co.uk offer on site refuelling gear for fleet depots
http://www.calor.co.uk/lpg-cars/autogas-fleets/on-site-refuelling/
and a TomTom gps download with station locations,
http://www.calor.co.uk/lpg-cars/autogas-refuelling/calor-autogas-tom-tom-poi-list/

It seems to have an eco system thats below the radar, I don't think they bother to market it in Ireland, perhaps our population density makes a rollout not cost effective and considering it has not gained much traction in the UK they perhaps think the same would be the case here. However I think if the right tax changes were made here it would become quite popular in the same way that Diesels went from zero to hero in just a few short years. The Irish market is probably more running-cost conscious than the UK, our Nankang equipped 320D M sports are evidence enough of that. Enough musing anyway.. time for Bed.