With the high cost of crude oil based fuels people need to start looking at vehicles that use alternative fules. This three part series will cover alternatives that are available now. Not possibilities for the future.
The last of the alternative vehicles that are currently avaiable is the Natural Gas vehicle. This type of alternative fuel has been around for decades. Many fleets of government vehicles run on Natural Gas. This means that if you look for them they are available. There are two types of Natural Gas vehicles; Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquid Petroleum Gast (LPG). Which one is best for you really depends on what fueling stations are in your area. The best website I have found to get an idea of stations in your area is the Alternative Fuel Station Locator.
If there are no fueling stations that are convenient for you and natural gas is available at your home you can purchase a home fueling station from Phill. This will cost you about $2k but if you drive long distances each day the savings are substantial. How substantial? Well, Natural Gas vehicles run at about the same mileage as gasoline but only costs around $1.50 per gallon equivalent.
Other factors to consider with Natural Gas is that it burns so cleanly that you do not have to change the oil as much and the engines last longer. A well maintained CNG engine should last for about 500k miles. This means by the time your CNG vehicle dies on you we should have some other alternatives to talk about.
For me CNG seems to be a great option. The idea of fueling up at home is very appealing. I hope this series has been fun and informative and that you will consider purchasing a vehicle that saves you money and allows for a little more supply in the regular gasoline market. Making prices go down for everyone.
This is a really informative article. I didn’t even know that such things existed; I wonder if it’s practical to bring this to a consumer level across the board. It might be necessary if fuel costs keep rising.