I talked to a mechanic who worked on CNG vehicles for the City of Mesa, AZ. He said they run lousy, never seemed to work right, and always needed repair.
“He said they run lousy, never seemed to work right, and always needed repair. “
Jeff, what he is speaking of are “lean burn”, ultra low emissions (ULEV) engines designed for fleet use, and yes, they can be finicky and difficult to maintain. Performance is also highly dependent on fuel quality which is nowhere near as standardized as gasoline from an energy density and impurities standpoint
I worked doing control system design for about six years on this type of engine. Many of the early ULEV natural gas engines were sold way too early in the design and testing process.
Engine manufacturers and fleet owners were too eager to be PC and “go green”. Then there was that little problem of our government subsidizing them with tax breaks which kept them from being properly developed from a commercial viewpoint.