[Eye of Unk]

A lot of people still hang on to buggy whip and dirigible stocks hoping for a comeback.

[cuban leaf]

I saw a show on PBS back in the mid-90’s about natural gas power. There were a lot of problems, the main two being:

1. It would take so long to fill up that it would be more practical to replace your fuel tank at the “gas” station with a full tank, kinda like a lot of places do with propane tanks now.

2. In an accident it would explode. The good news is that id does not radiate a lot of heat. (Most people who died in the Hindenburg disaster died from their fall, not from being burned.) To resolve this one, at the time of the broadcast they had developed a “rock like” substance to put in the tank that would absorb the gas and then release it fairly slowly (preventing explosion), but still more than fast enough to provide the fuel pressure needed.

I don’t know if either of these are resolvable, though, from a marketing perspective.

[SomeCallMeTim]

I’ve ridden in Nat Gas cars in Argentina... they seem fine. But, the range is pretty short. On an open highway, we had to refuel every 2 hours.

And, re-fueling takes longer too.

[q_an_a]

Recently I read that Springfield Remanufacturing was refitting postal trucks with natural gas. This seems to be an ideal market, local delivery, central fueling opportunity and often in cities. I do see beer delivery trucks - very large very heavy because this is Dallas and beer lover territory - LOL - but it is the smaller delivery companies that seem to be the most enthused about this change.

Of course in Ft Worth all their city buses are Natural gas because they have the Barnett Shale revenues and are working cooperatively to keep supplies moving.

[Dusty Road]

As the infrastructure expands I see this as more and more feasable. As noted there is a slight performance drop but work on that is already underway. As another member noted refueling is a large problem and the simplest solution is a complete tank swap. As far as the tanks themselves there are several designs that are both lighter in weight and almost bullet proof.

Not long ago there was a product on the market that would hook into your home gas supply and a refill you vehicle while it was sitting in you garage or driveway, it was the size of a small battery charger and even had a wall mount option.

[Paladin2]

" About 80 percent offer compressed natural gas, for passenger cars and light-duty trucks. Long-haul trucks generally use liquefied natural gas because it is lighter and takes up less space, freeing room for cargo. "

Two different vehicle systems.

[PapaBear3625]

The big thing for truckers is the lack of enough fueling stations. Not many LNG trucks on the road because there's not many fuel stations, and there's not many fuel stations because there aren't many NG vehicles.

Once there are a critical number of refueling stations along the major highways, then the number of NG vehicles will increase dramatically.

Also, existing LNG trucks are produced by taking a diesel truck and applying an expensive conversion kit. Once there's enough demand, the truck manufacturers will produce trucks that start as LNG trucks, greatly reducing the price.

[Wonder Warthog]

Article doesn’t appear to mention what type engine is involved. Is it spark ignition, or diesel/natgas dual injection??

[houeto]

LNG weighs less than CNG? I did not know this.

[Osage Orange]

So....I wonder what the best ways to play the NATGAS move is?

Meaning equities....

I trade stocks...and have some ideas. But what do you think?

Appreciate your expertise...