And in an accident it will break into 500 pieces and go 500 feet in every direction.
Already well underway. I know a company that is doing quite well converting commercial fleets to run on LNG. Between the lower cost and the cleaner burn, resulting in less engine wear, the ROI is pretty dramatic.
Not the first time this has been done, of course. My BF has two bi-fuel Chevys, both Cavaliers, from the early 2000s. They were commonly used as fleet cars for government agencies, but I guess they proved impractical at the time and were auctioned off.
The computers regulating the natural gas switchover in his cars went bad long ago, so now he just runs them on regular gasoline.
Yeah....really believable - from the people that brought you the destruction of free-enterprise, legal interest in financial assets, pandering to Unions and their medical plan, et al....
They lied, LIED about Volt’s efficacy, its financing, its value, its performance - everything....Just because you slap the name “Impala” on it ain’t gonna cut it this time, GM. Choke on your cars and trucks.
This is easy to do, they just make the fuel tank larger.
I could build one that could go a thousand miles, but wouldn’t have a back seat, and the springs would have to be stronger.
A 1997 to 2001 Camry 4 cylinder will go 600 miles on a tank. 41 MPG at 75 MPH. I have done it many times. The newer ones are too heavy and have too much frontal area to do that good.
Stories like this with insufficient information (no, I have not bothered to read the full article about a GM vehicle) are like the friend why says,
"My car gets GREAT gas mileage!"
"Really, how much?"
"Well, I filled up last Friday and am still showing a quarter tank remaining!"
A compressor must be used to put the gas into your car while parked in your garage. The compressor cost $10,000 and takes 8 to 16 hours to recharge the tank depending on tank size. No one ever mentions this little detail about CNG vehicles.
In good conditions, my GMC Duramax can go 500 miles on a tank. In perfect, 600 miles. On straight #2 Diesel. Diesels are easy to convert to CNG.. Add the tank, control system (regulated by boost pressure) and a nozzle in the intake to fumigate the intake with CNG. The kit is very affordable. I considered doing the conversion but the tall pole in the tent was a place to fill the CNG. I have natural gas in my house, but the pump cost $15K last I checked and had to be rebuilt every 40 hours of use. The only other places to fill the CNG around me were municipal filling stations.
They lost me at “chevy”.
It’s probably just a matter of time before the states/government jacks up the taxes on CNG to make up for what they lost on gasoline.
Dumb article....cars have been running on N gas for at least 40 yrs that I know of....geeeeeeeeez. Conversion is simple. Loss of power can be expected tho.
Cars,taxis and buses in Colombia are converting at a rapid rate..no guv program just market realities. Gasoline is more expensive there than the US.
First of all, this article lost me at “Chevrolet” - I’m not buying ANY Government Motors car so long as Uncle owns a single share or has a single board member. However, I did rent one earlier this year, so I’ll comment about it even if I won’t ever buy one.
The 2014 Impala with a 3.6 liter, 305 hp engine will do 0-60 in 6.7 seconds, a quarter mile in 15.0 at nearly 94 mph, and can get 28 mpg on the highway. Combined with an 18.5 gallon tank, that’s a range of 518 miles. Having driven a 2013 (which is essentially the same car), I can verify that it has excellent acceleration - nearly as good as my ‘69 GTO. I also got about 30 mpg on the road at 65, though I admit it fell “a bit” when I was testing its torque curve out.
The only thing new about this car is the CNG option - which is a good one, mind you, if you can actually find any of the stuff. I suspect it’ll become more available over time, but the performance is nothing better than at present with a “mere” gasoline engine.
Oh, and Chevy is supposed to come out with a nearly 200-horse, 4-cylinder later this year that will likely get at least 2-3 mpg better.
Of course, if the assholes would produce a diesel hybrid for a car like this they could get 40 mpg in the city and on the highway, and you’d have a car with lots of leg room and trunk space, plus tons of torque to make it a fun car (especially with the flexibility of a 6-speed transmission).
Natural gas powered vehicles have been around for decades as well as the technology for transporting and safely filling tanks. The US has an abundance of natural gas and left to the market natural gas powered vehicles could easily become a popular alternative to gasoline. However, I would expect that the government and environmentalists will muck things up and force us to use more ethanol and electric powered cars that survive in the market only because of massive government subsidies.
Back when I had my Jetta diesel (750+ miles/tank), I worked with a guy who had one too, and he had added am auxiliary 30 gallon tank in the trunk. He could drive from Connecticut practically to the Rocky Mountains on a single fill up.
As a technology buff I find this article interesting however I don’t see this in a residential neighborhood. First cities would balk at such equipment that could endanger not only your house but the surrounding houses and insurance companies would not want to have the risk and would object too.
But if you could, I would see this as propane installer told me that you will never see a propane gas furnace in the basement of a home because of the safety equipment required.
Therefore if you could do this you will need a approved spark proof ventilation system, a redundant fire and gas detector alarm setup, a set of spark proof tools and an approved fire suppression equipment . And I expect the state to require you to be a licensed Master Gas Fitter for you to use and maintain all of it..
Also It wouldn’t be surprising that you might need a much larger gas line to the house and a commercial gas meter.
Lastly few people would want to deal with the trouble of filling the car a couple of times a week because of the danger of not only fire but of cryogenic burns and the danger of asphyxiation.
[Then to every neighborhood has the noisy worry wart neighbor who will call 911 every time they might - maybe smelled a wiff of gas and report you.]
....maybe I’m wrong but there are potential problems with this .
So what? My ‘87 T-Bird goes about 450 miles on a tank.