[robert14]

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.

[thackney]

Competing projects propose $500 home CNG fueler
http://www.cngnow.com/news/Post.aspx?ID=688

They fill overnight. Also most people don’t drive 500 miles every day.

[Hardraade]

That can be worked around, by doing the thing modular. Keep two tanks, one being always recharged. Load charged tank instead of charging the car.

[Dr. Sivana]

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.

While filling at home is a great convenience, commercial filling stations are popping up all over. There is one station just off of the beltline on my way to/from work. There is another at a major intersection just south of my home. Not all parts of the country have it easily available yet, but it is coming, and the fleet operators/truck companies are driving it.

Also, the PHILL home system doesn't have to cost $10,000 (though it isn't cheap)

Hebert said the U.S. price for the Phill is $4,500, plus installation. [ . . .]BRC FuelMaker also manufacturers and markets larger and more expensive multi-vehicle CNG refueling stations - aimed at fleets but sold for home installation as well - with prices starting at close to $10,000.

If you want to complain about CNG, the issues are:

Added initial cost to the vehicle

Extra room needed to accomodate a larger tank or fewer miles per tank

Scarcity of pumps (starting to be improved)

Takes more time to fill a tank, even at commercial stations (not NEARLY as bad as electric, though)

If you DO run out of fuel on a CNG only vehicle. A guy with a $10 can of fuel won't help. You're getting towed.

There is a small performance hit with some fleet cars that have been fotted with CNG only (e.g. Ford Crown Victoria)

If you don't have a station on your regular driving routes or deep pockets for a home station, CNG is not for you. If your travels take you to places where you don't know if you will be near a CNG station, it is not for you. If you don't drive a whole lot, the fuel cost savings won't offset the initial extra cost ($3-$5000).

That still leaves a whole lot of us who could save a pile of money because we don't have those restrictions.

[FreedomOfExpression]

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.

Some years ago my employer at the time, a local government entity, looked into getting a CNG refueling station for the fleet. There were two systems available for fleets at the time.
There was a slow fill system where the vehicles refilled overnight.
Then there was an expensive $10,000+ system that refilled each car in around 5 minutes.
That was at least 10-15 years ago. I can't imagine that the technology has become worse during that time.

[cizinec]

“The compressor cost $10,000 and takes 8 to 16 hours to recharge the tank depending on tank size.”

Oh BS.

Honda sells their home unit for $4900, not $10k. Chessapeake has been working with GE to get one out for $500, not $10k. Good freaking grief.

Yeah, it takes a while to fill up at your home, but it’s a FULL TANK. What do you think people are doing? Standing in their garage all night waiting for the tank to fill? What else is your car doing at night that it can’t be refilled? Does your gasoline car have a 100% full tank every morning?

Every time someone posts about NG vehicles, a few start posting the most hyperbolic “facts,” rivaled only by anti-fracking nut jobs.