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.
It's a step in the right direction.
What most are forgetting in this article that it's a multifuel car with natural gas.
You run out of regular gas ? push the button and run it off of natural gas, you run out of natural gas ? push the button and run it off of regular gas.
At least we would have thought ? that they put in a warning that either tanks are running out and need to switch over seamlessly so you don't run out on a busy road or highway.