For the motorists looking for a better alternative towards fuel use, PetrolCard has announced the opening of a “Clean N’ Green Fuel” compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in South Seattle, the first public-access CNG facility in the city. For businesses and consumers with CNG-compatible vehicles, the facility offers a readily available, affordable, and environmentally friendly fuel. The station, which is open 24/7 accepts all major credit cards and PetroCard fleet cards, and sells CNG at prices typically one-third below gasoline and diesel.

There are currently more than 120,000 CNG vehicles in the United States and more than 8 million worldwide. In the U.S., a majority of those vehicles are government or business fleets. Locally, several municipalities, airport shuttles and taxis run fleet vehicles on CNG including vehicles from the King County Government fleet and STITA airport taxis. The Honda Civic GX is currently the only consumer CNG vehicle on the American car market, however many standard engines can be converted to use CNG.

CNG is sold in gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs), with each GGE having the same energy content as a gallon of gasoline. Vehicles using CNG typically have similar or better fuel economy ratings than standard gasoline or diesel vehicles, and today CNG is approximately one-third lower in price. The Clean N’ Green Fuel station will sell CNG to business fleets, including Waste Management, as well as individuals with CNG equipped vehicles. Current pricing at the station is in the range of $1.70-$1.80/GGE.

(Source) Press

Tags: airport shuttles, airport taxis, american car market, cng vehicles, Compressed Natural Gas, diesel vehicles, energy content, fleet cards, fleet vehicles, fuel economy ratings, fuel station, fueling station, gasoline vehicles, green fuel, honda civic, honda civic gx, king county government, south seattle

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Maruti has revealed that in 3 to 5 years time, they will be launching their own line of hybrid cars and compressed natural gas (CNG) variants for three or four models in the domestic market. The plan is part of the company’s broad strategy to develop small cars that run on alternative fuel technology.

“We are developing electric car technology for India. But it might take us up to the next five years or more to manufacture and sell electric cars in the domestic market,” said Maruti Suzuki Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi.

Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava, added, “We are working on multi-fuel variants and some models have been identified for CNG. A CNG kit currently costs over Rs 40,000 and that is expensive. Also, these cars can only be launched in 2010 or 2011, when there is a pan-India CNG filling system from companies like Reliance.”

Bhargava pointed out that even Delhi lacked sufficient CNG filling systems for commercial vehicles. The company has already launched LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) variants of the Maruti 800 and Wagon R.

(Source) Business Standard

Tags: alternative fuel, commercial vehicles, Compressed Natural Gas, electric car, electric cars, hybrid cars, hybrids, maruti 800, maruti suzuki, petroleum gas, small cars

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AT&T will be investing in cleaner domestic vehicles as it is set to spend up to $565 million as part of a long-term strategy to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years. AT&T expects to spend an estimated $350 million to purchase about 8,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles and approximately $215 million to begin replacing its passenger cars with alternative-fuel models.

AT&T’s investment represents the largest U.S. corporate commitment to CNG vehicles to date. The new deployments will bring AT&T’s alternative-fuel fleet to more than 15,000 vehicles by 2019.

Over the next five years, AT&T will replace about 8,000 gasoline-powered service vehicles with vehicles powered by domestically available CNG. CNG vehicles are expected to emit approximately 25 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than those traditionally powered by gasoline.

(Source) Press

Tags: alternative fuel vehicles, cng vehicles, Compressed Natural Gas, corporate commitment, deployments, domestic vehicles, fuel models, gasoline, greenhouse gas emissions, passenger cars, service vehicles, term strategy

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Mercedes Benz announced this week it will display a prototype of a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas (LP gas) at the upcoming Washington Auto Show. Mercedes Benz is considering releasing a compressed gas vehicle for sale in the U.S. market within the next several years. Many European automakers are convinced that the key to success in today’s American market lies in offering a variety of alternatively fueled vehicles and then producing the one that “takes off” as the most user-friendly new car.

Some analysts feel that pushing the Big Three Detroit American makers toward plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will be their death knell, and that America’s rich reserves of natural gas are a more cost-effective and easily accomplished alternative. LP vehicles have been in use for years in large farm machinery and some OTR trucks.

Tags: CNG, Compressed Natural Gas

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Compressed natural gas (the kind you use for your backyard grill) had been used to fuel farm machinery and super-large trucks for many years, but now, with gas and oil prices more volatile than ever before, many manufacturers are exploring compressed natural gas personal vehicles. The 2009 Honda Civic GX is one of the first publically-available sedans to run exclusively on compressed natural gas. With zero emissions and an EPA city/highway mileage rating of 24/36, the Honda Civic GS is about as environmentally friendly a car as you’re ever going to meet.

With a sticker price of that starts at $25,200, it’s also affordable. A gallon of natural gas is not only more ecologically sound as a fuel, it’s also cheaper, with the typical price ranging between 60 cents and two dollars depending on the supplier and the area of the country in which you live. Expect to see more compressed natural gas infrastructure as these highly efficient and affordable vehicles catch on.

Tags: civic, CNG, Compressed Natural Gas, Honda

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