CNG Civic
 

Hi everyone!
I have perused this site for years and today I thought I would join (whynot?).
Also, I am an amateur endurance racer, so aero and fuel efficiency is a big
deal over 14+ hours of racing, so that has brought me here many times.

I live in Trussville, AL and we have the cheapest Compressed Natural Gas that I can find in the US.
My father and I are huge proponents of CNG fuel and I thought I would share a story and get some feedback.
We have 2 CNG Civic GX's, a dedicated CNG F-150 and a BiFuel Gas/CNG F-250.
My thinking of Ecomodding is all about the bottom line, aka $/mile.

Here is a story for you:
Yesterday for work I had to travel from Birmingham, AL to Sandy Springs, GA and back to Trussville, AL.
I took our Civic GX, topped it off before I left and filled it back up upon return.
Total round trip distance was 318.7 miles.
Filled it back up with 6.389 Gallons (GGE's) @ $1.459 per gallon.
Total cost was $9.32!

Now the 49.88MPG is cool, but nothing special...
What is amazing is the $/mile equaling 2.924 cents per mile!
The way I see it is with gasoline locally @ $2.40 per gallon, to get the same $/mile you would have to achieve 84MPG...

Anyway, I love the idea of having a community to discuss my enthusiasm for reducing $/mile, so thanks for letting me join this one!

Please comment and if you have any questions about CNG, endurance road racing or something a petroleum contractor can answer, give me a shout.

Thanks again!

It does surprise me how CNG didn't get so widespread in the United States and Canada as it is even in 3rd-world countries such as Argentina. It used to be more widespread in Brazil too, but has been less favored due to politics and the arrival of newer direct-injection flexfuel engines which are harder to convert to CNG.

As long as underbody-mounted tanks can be used, it won't be unpractical for the average Joe, neither for commercial operators.
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The only dedicated-CNG vehicles I have seen in Brazil were trucks and buses.

It looks like OP gave it two days and then never came back. :(

I'd be all for a cheaper, clean-burning fuel, if they would put in the infrastructure for it.

Unless "big oil" owned the natural gas infrastructure already in place (for home heating and such) I doubt they'd permit it to happen.

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.

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.


Most gas stations providing CNG in Brazil and Argentina are regular ones carrying the brand of a major oil company.


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.

The OP has two CNG Civic GX's... :eek:
I'm jealous! :mad: