Would you buy a NG powered truck?

[two_bit_score]

DETROIT More natural gas-powered vehicles will hit the market soon, as rising gasoline prices, booming natural gas production and proposed tax credits make them a more attractive option. But theyæ±*e a long way from being a common sight in U.S. driveways.

Chrysler will sell a Ram 2500 Heavy Duty pickup that runs on compressed natural gas starting in July. The truck has both a gasoline tank and a natural gas storage tank, and its engine shifts seamlessly between the two power sources. The truck can run for 255 miles on natural gas and another 367 miles using gasoline.

Chrysler will have competition. Late this year, General Motors Co. will sell natural-gas versions of two pickups the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 2500 HD. The GM trucks will run on gasoline and natural gas for 650 miles. Ford Motor Co. has offered natural-gas ready pickups and vans since 2009.

Natural gas is appealing for a lot of reasons. It comes from domestic sources, for those concerned about importing oil. It produces 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional gasoline or diesel. And it costs less than gasoline. Natural gas prices have dropped 18 percent so far this year, while regular gas prices are up 13 percent.

But U.S. buyers have been slow to adopt natural-gas vehicles, which make up less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the vehicles on American roads. Even the newest trucks aren稚 intended for average buyers. Theyæ±*e work trucks, capable of plowing snow and towing three tons or more. Chrysler will only sell its natural-gas Ram to fleet customers like local governments, utilities and construction companies. GM anticipates that 90 percent of its sales will be to fleets.


Fuel Fix More natural gas vehicles hitting the market



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[Diamondpilot]

I dont think so. My fathers company had a fleet of the Ford ones and it was so expensive as a option it just does not make sense. They bought them because of grant/tax credit.

End the end it will be another Volt!

Chris

 

[Monster5601]

It is the same old song and dance.

Until there is an infrastructure for refueling, the number of vehicles sold will not be enough to lower production cost so the vehicle is cost competitive with current vehicles regardless of the propulsion technology.

I think CNG is the way to go. Most American homes have natural gas so you could refuel at home since the technology to compress is not a big deal.

CNG is not heavy like gas or diesel reducing the vehicle's weight and increasing mileage. CNG is abundant in north America. Vehicles will not need alternative power trains or batteries.

As the price of gasoline creeps up, may be, just may be, this country will start making a serious move toward energy independence.

 

[Rancher Ed]

I wouldn't, at least not in the near future. Perhaps in 5 or 10 years, after they are more common, and there are places to refuel, I would consider it.

It is the same old song and dance.

Until there is an infrastructure for refueling, the number of vehicles sold will not be enough to lower production cost so the vehicle is cost competitive with current vehicles regardless of the propulsion technology.

I think CNG is the way to go. Most American homes have natural gas so you could refuel at home since the technology to compress is not a big deal.

CNG is not heavy like gas or diesel reducing the vehicle's weight and increasing mileage. CNG is abundant in north America. Vehicles will not need alternative power trains or batteries.

As the price of gasoline creeps up, may be, just may be, this country will start making a serious move toward energy independence.

I would disagree with you on most American homes having natural gas. In the city most of them might, I don't know, but a lot of rural and small towns are electric only, or they will have a propane tank that gets filled as needed. Because we are talking about trucks here, the homes that do have natural gas are the ones least likely to need/have a truck to begin with, so I don't think the idea is going to do well, at least for a few more years yet.

Also, while CNG isn't heavy, it is under pressure and the tanks needed for it weigh more than a diesel or gas tank, so I think the weight ends up being a wash. I'm not sure about this though, so I could be wrong.

Ed

 

[powerpace]

Natural gas vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sometimes you have to Wiki.

Looks like the U.S. is lagging behind Third World Countrys again when it come to finding alternatives. Pakistan, India. Brazil, Argentina, many European countys and Pacific Rim countrys have millions of LPG powered vehicles. Buses, trucks and cars.

I don't know how prevalent it is now but California farmers used many Butane powered tractors and crawler tractors.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-05-08-natural-gas-usat_N.htm This was in 2007.
•Ready to go. Other major automakers sell natural-gas-powered cars in Europe, Asia, South America and elsewhere, just not in the USA. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner mentioned natural gas at a Switzerland auto show in March as one of the alternative fuels the automaker has intensified efforts to develop for foreign markets.

 

[rambler]

I believe there are 2 different setups for natural gas fueling, compressed and liquified, and they are not compatable.

It's a good start, some fleet businesses can work through the issues and settle on one sandard type.

Only after that, will it rogress out to average users, likely will take a lot of govt money to get from now to then.

By then, will natural gas still be cheap? It's hard to chase after these short term roller-coaster prices, if we would drop gasoline fuels and go to natural gas fuels, what does that do to the supply and price of each right there?

As well, there is no 'float' of natural gas supplies. For te most part it comes in a pipeline and if the pipeline is disrupted or empty, you imeadiatly lose any fuel supply. With gasoline, there is the built in reserve of whatever is in the supplier's tanks.

I get several 100 gfallons of gas and diesel delivered to my farm, use it over a several month time period. There are no pipelines around me or to my farm; so I would be pretty slow to convert from what I'm doing to something that needs a pipe and constant flow to power my farm....

Here in town and all over southern MN, those grain coops that have natural gas powered corn driers run into big problems when the corn drying season overlaps a cold spell and the home heating season. When the big driers kick on, it blows out some house furnaces - the supply & the demand do not match with the current pipeline infrastructure.

Adding a lot of road fuel demand to the current pipeline infrastructure will mean a _lot_ of new pipelines needed all across the country, and well capacity to supply them.

Nothing that's can't be solved; but certainly going to be a bumpy and long ride to get enough natural gas vehicles on the road to make a difference.

Didn't know they could easily do a ng/gasoline setup like the Dodge 2500 mentioned; like any hybred setup, it means you are carrying 2 fuel setups around, making it less efficient of a vehicle, lowering payload, etc. Interesting tho.

In my location and infrastructure and the difference in tanks of gasoline/diesel vs the pipeline of natural gas with poor storage of natural gas, I would worry a great deal about the availability of ng to me - it's easy to control the supply of gasoline/diesel with a few tanks. Natural gas depends on more coming down the pipe, or it's done & over I get none right now. In short, natural gas has always struck me as a very fragile supply of fuel, can run out in 10 minutes, while I can physically own a 3 month supply of gas/diesel. In farming, I can't afford to run out.....

--->Paul

 

[Monster5601]

I would disagree with you on most American homes having natural gas.

I love Google

"62 million homes in the U.S are heated using natural gas. As of 2009 this number represented about 56 percent of households in the United States."

NaturalGas.org

If I could buy a car, or a half ton pickup that ran on CNG I'd be signing papers tonight.

 

[Wnc3]

I love Google

"62 million homes in the U.S are heated using natural gas. As of 2009 this number represented about 56 percent of households in the United States."

NaturalGas.org

If I could buy a car, or a half ton pickup that ran on CNG I'd be signing papers tonight.

I think Honda has a car factory ready....

 

[brokenknee]

Nope, I would never buy one. I had to use one about 15 years ago that was furnished by my employer. It was hard to start when cold and there was a loss of power. I believe the company that did the retro said it was 10%. My unscientific believe it was closer to 20%. Have to be very careful when fueling, more than one person ended up with burns from the LPG.

Then there is the safety aspect. We finally got rid of them when one of them went up in flames. Made quit a show, flames thirty to forty feet in the air. The "official" cause turned out to be a supply line leak that was ignited by the hot exhaust. I wish I had a video of it.

Forgot, the darn tank took up about a third of the truck bed. There is also the loss of fuel economy. If you get say 16 mpg on gas, you may get 12 mpg on propane. As already stated I would never buy one. Not sure I would even drive one if it was given to me.

With all that said, it may be possible they have addressed these issues. It is definitely one thing I would check out.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have a propane F700 and my brother has one with a 2k water tank. I wished I knew more about them fuel wise. My neighbor is a forklift mechanic but the propane system on this truck is different from what he worked on. I like it as a fuel in the truck its geared to handle the fuel and pretty efficient. When gas went up after Katrina I drove it many trips to town and all around as it was actually cheaper in the summer to drive.


THat company truck fire was pretty amazing in fact that the supply pressure on them is around 285 psi. My neighbor had a customer have a regulator screw up and put the full pressure out of the carb. It shot fire 25 feet through the top of the cab.

Id like to see NG become more popular. Not that long ago propane was the ceap fuel and tractors here ran on it. The landfill I run when we have gotten a few offers when we close a cell is to have NG collectors.