To: rottndog
You need to look at the huge price difference of dollars per million BTU of Natural Gas versus Diesel.
The trucking industry is making the change already in areas were the fueling is available, which is very limited so far.
It has been a Chicken/Egg issue. Nobody wants to invest a pile of money to build a commercial fueling station without significant vehicle traffic using CNG. Few people want to buy CNG vehicles without sufficient places to refuel.
I’ll link you to a related article.
39 posted on
03/07/2012 10:55:29 AM PST by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: thackney
It has been a Chicken/Egg issue. Nobody wants to invest a pile of money to build a commercial fueling station without significant vehicle traffic using CNG. Few people want to buy CNG vehicles without sufficient places to refuel.
And, of course, what happens when the cost of diesel comes down? The cost of natural gas has to be significantly below the cost of diesel for a long time for any of this to be economically viable over the long run. This only works if diesel prices stay high and natural gas stays VERY low.
You also have to factor in the cost and time needed to develop an entirely new infrastructure needed to support a large scale natural gas fleet...not just the fuel itself, but vehicle maintenance and support as well. The current infrastructure we have has taken the better part of a century to develop (not that adding natural gas will take as long).
Not to be too pessimistic though...If the economics of it work out, GREAT! The less oil we use for diesel, the more will be available for gasoline and other petroleum products. Gas prices will come down, and I seriously doubt NG will be able to compete with that.
43 posted on
03/07/2012 11:30:44 AM PST by
rottndog
(Be Prepared for what's coming AFTER America....)
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