CNG / Natural Gas
Published over 3 years ago
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a potential replacement for traditional gasoline as a fuel for automobiles. In fact, there are already some cars on the road which use CNG.
I spoke about this topic with my dad, who for many years worked on CNG projects for fleet vehicles, like buses and delivery vans. He shared with me some of the problems they faced - including:
- The high compression of the natural gas tanks - without compression, the vehicles won't go too far. The compression then requires fairly sophisticated fueling connectors from the pump to the vehicle.
- There aren't nearly as many CNG fueling stations as traditional gasoline, though they do exist. To make these, many more gas pipelines will likely need to exist. Without them, the CNG could be transported by trucks to fueling stations, but again they'd have to be under extreme pressure.
- If the gas is transported via pipeline, it is carried at a lower pressure, and upon arrival at the fueling station, it must be compressed, which required electricity.
So unfortunately, at this point, I don't see CNG as a clear solution. I like the idea of it being accessible as an alternative, along with ethanol and bio-diesel.
In researching this topic, I also stumbled upon this cool website: Gas2.org
