Honda Civic GX

[Stryker908]

Can somebody tell me what I'm missing about this car? a 25,000 dollar car that runs on Natural Gas, that is for sale right now, and after tax credits/incentives can cost less then 20,000 dollars (plus the price of the "refilling station" which runs about 4000, but again has tax credits that could pay for the entire thing).

You refill the car at your house after tapping into your natural gas line, it goes 250-300 miles on a fill, and costs about 1-2 dollars per gallon.

Why is this car not getting as much press as the Hydrogen Fuel Cell/hybrid cars?!

[soulpatch]

good point. I think that car woudl be great for many.


Too bad I do not have natural gas running to my home......

[dreadlockgoalie]

Natural gas prices are going up alongside oil, as far as I know and there's been a few shortages/close calls with supply in the US in the last few years. Might end up not being so economical.

I should add that the stupid amount of press the hydrogen fuel cell cars are getting is ridiculous, given that the technology isn't even near sustainable yet.

[Carnivale]

The problem, from a marketability standpoint, is the same as for a plug-in electric. There are no "filling stations" for these vehicles, so you can't drive long distances away from your home. Many people would not buy the vehicle for this reason.

[cdnredraider]

As an unbiased business owner in the NG industry, I demand these get more attention

Really though, NG prices are heading up like oil is. The U.S. has not developed its own supply of NG and as a result we have the highest NG prices in the world.

[Stryker908]

Originally Posted by Carnivale

The problem, from a marketability standpoint, is the same as for a plug-in electric. There are no "filling stations" for these vehicles, so you can't drive long distances away from your home. Many people would not buy the vehicle for this reason.

Not completely....

in terms of the "filling stations" there are filling stations in locations through out major cities, small but if the demand was there I am sure they would grow

(there were also "electric" filling stations in California back in the late 90's .... Untill their legistature (callifornias) decided to repeal the law demanding that a % of new car sales HAD to be electric

Furthermore with the ability to travel upwards of 250 miles on a single "tank" it seems more then usable for the "average" driver (who travles less then 60 miles round trip every day)

Originally Posted by cdnredraider

As an unbiased business owner in the NG industry, I demand these get more attention

Really though, NG prices are heading up like oil is. The U.S. has not developed its own supply of NG and as a result we have the highest NG prices in the world.

From what I understand, and I could be very wrong, Natural Gas is one of the Natural resources that we have here in the US in sustainable amounts.

Plus with further development the price would be driven down.... or at least that is my simple understanding of the economics of this sort of thing (more demaind higher effort to increase supply, supply increases, prices drop...)

Finally with the price of cars comprable to that of Gas powered cars, and the price of fuel roughly 1/2the price of gas it seems like a venture that should be explored further


This is something I have no more intereste then an annoyed "gas" buyer, and I'm just curious why this option doesnt get the "press" that a hybrid, or even hydrogen seems to get

[Carnivale]

Originally Posted by Stryker908

Furthermore with the ability to travel upwards of 250 miles on a single "tank" it seems more then usable for the "average" driver (who travles less then 60 miles round trip every day)

True, but most consumers desire the flexibility to be able to travel more than 250 miles even if they don't do so every day.

Originally Posted by Stryker908

From what I understand, and I could be very wrong, Natural Gas is one of the Natural resources that we have here in the US in sustainable amounts.

Depends on what you mean by "sustainable"....for how long? Natural gas is a non-renewable resource just like oil or coal, there is not an infinite amount. SNG (biogas) derived from biomass is potentially sustainable, but it's unlikely that production could meet demands for both household and transportation energy needs. Beyond that, burning methane still releases CO2. Hydrogen fuel cells are touted over CNG because they do not release greenhouse gases as waste.

[cdnredraider]

Originally Posted by Stryker908

From what I understand, and I could be very wrong, Natural Gas is one of the Natural resources that we have here in the US in sustainable amounts.

Plus with further development the price would be driven down.... or at least that is my simple understanding of the economics of this sort of thing (more demaind higher effort to increase supply, supply increases, prices drop...)

We may be sustainable with known reserves and current use. I'm no expert on a supply side, i just work with final usage. I'm pretty certain(read about) that we don't have massive reserves of NG like we do of oil and coal though and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't keep up with large scale auto use. On the flip side, Turkey has a crap load of NG so we are trying to break into sales over there