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Originally Posted by Stubby79
I'd be all for a cheaper, clean-burning fuel, if they would put in the infrastructure for it.
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I remember the first time I had read about CNG, in '96 when its use on private vehicles was finally regulated in Brazil. Took 5 more years to become available in the city where I lived at that time, yet its availability remains too restricted. In my hometown it's more widespread, yet not to the same extent it could've been.
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Unless "big oil" owned the natural gas infrastructure already in place (for home heating and such) I doubt they'd permit it to happen.
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Most gas stations providing CNG in Brazil and Argentina are regular ones carrying the brand of a major oil company.
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Of course, it still wouldn't be popular, as how dare they try to push some fuel that will produce less peak horsepower in existing engines.
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Previous generations of conversion kits have led to increased power losses, yet nowadays the air/fuel ratio is what dictates how underpowered an engine would be after the CNG setup is installed. Since it has anti-knock properties better than gasoline and even ethanol, most often the AFR is set excessively poor for fuel savings, yet it can be adjusted to keep the performance closer to stock at the expense of some increase to fuel consumption. On a sidenote, it's not unusual to blame CNG for valve seats and cylinder head damages on converted engines, while an excessively poor AFR leading to overheatings is more likely to cause such damage instead of the fuel itself.