"If natural gas fuel saved you, say, $2 per gallon, then you'd have to drive 124,020 highway miles or 82,680 city miles to break even on fuel costs against the $6,890 purchase price premium."
But
"You can convert an existing car from gasoline to natural gas, but the costs are daunting........."Converting a car to dual-use (as in Iran) costs between $6,000 to $10,000. Converting a car to run on natural gas only is about half as expensive.
So, the actual conversion costs for most drivers (currently owned cars) could be as low as $3,000, or only as much as $5,000 (for conversion to nat gas only). At $2 a gallon, conversion would "pay off" at between 40,000 and 80,000 some miles. Not great, but 1/2 the scariest figures quoted. And, if the industry applied itself both OEM-nat-gas-car-costs and conversion kit costs could come way down.
The cost of implementing CNG availability to interstate uses will be astronomical. If we don’t drill to provide low cost gas for the poor, then we have not done the right thing...how many single mothers, elderly and disabled can afford to spend 3-7000 dollars to revamp a cheap car that they are having trouble paying for in the first place. We need to do it all, and those who can afford it, it’s great. But those who can’t should be allowed to use gas until their car is in the junkyard.