6.6 cents a litre for fuel? New Civic does that...

merlin · 09-06-2006, 03:28 PM

Saw this in the paper - the new 2006 Honda Civic GX due on sale in the US in their Autumn. It runs on compressed natural gas (CNG). This is different to LPG, apparantly Australia has a large abundance of CNG which comes straight out of the ground and requires no refining.

In summary:

- 115hp 1.7 litre CNG engine
- Re-fuel it at home. Honda install a "station" in your garage.
- Fuel cost is approx 6.6 cents a litre in Aussie money compared to petrol.
- produces near zero emissions.
- RRP is $21000 US

I should add that half of Sydney's (STA) bus fleet is currently CNG (so no issue on fuel supply here).

Link

Seems pretty good to me....especially if they made a V8 with it.

merlin · 09-06-2006, 03:33 PM

Cons I can see so far after a little more googling.

- It takes 12 hours to fill the tank (so you do it overnight in your garage)
- Full tank gives a 200mile (320km?) range.

**Polyal** · 09-06-2006, 03:35 PM

^^ still alright if you are just doing city commuting!

if only they could have good power in one of these beauties!

:

matsbfxr6 · 09-06-2006, 04:40 PM

12 hours a night seems a little harsh but i spose if you plug it in every night when you get home then it might not be so bad, I wonder what you have to do when you go on holiday though???

EDManual · 09-06-2006, 11:56 PM

most people are home for at least 12 hours in 24 anyway, and you dont have to fill it up if you only do 50 ot 100km a day, just plug it in every few days for as long as you like. sounds great!

Van D · 10-06-2006, 12:18 AM

Hmm, seems like a pretty good daily.

Then take the falc out for the long trips/holidays.

pks54 · 10-06-2006, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlin

Cons I can see so far after a little more googling.

- It takes 12 hours to fill the tank (so you do it overnight in your garage)
- Full tank gives a 200mile (320km?) range.

don't see any cons there..
all good i think.. look at what milage it can do. will not see many ppl complaining bout 12 hr re-fill time and range

Danny · 10-06-2006, 02:38 PM

Not for Near 7 cents per Litre. I'd happily get kicked in the nuts for fuel to go down to that sort of price let alone wait 12 hours....

BA Turbo · 10-06-2006, 05:51 PM

pretty good how the hell do you plug it in like WTF.

meh shhhh if the wife finds out bye bye BA turbo start having to cry even tough its killed and cant drive.

Kryton · 10-06-2006, 08:43 PM

and what sort of Tax is the Gov going to enforce when the day comes that the mojority of cars are running on CNG? it will have to be something if no one is buying petrol.

deesun · 10-06-2006, 08:51 PM

Does the $21k include the cost of the install at home or is that extra? How many KW is 115hp.

BA Turbo · 10-06-2006, 09:25 PM

probly like 60KW of power it has.

so probly 35K with everything on road etc and install home thingy pretty good i want one as a toy to pricy tough.

Olympus · 10-06-2006, 09:34 PM

Pricey ? Think of all the thousands off dollars you save a year on petrol !

M14A-Mclaren · 10-06-2006, 09:49 PM

I had a neighbour who ran her Mitsi van on cng, she was one of those big butch lesbians who mowed the lawn in her undies. Scared the absolute out of me. Anyway, that put me off CNG.

montyv8 · 10-06-2006, 10:54 PM

lol @ M14A-Mclaren

CNG was sold in NZ for years and years, then they phased it out as it wasn't as good as LPG and people weren't buying it. i think it may also be more harsh on engines than LPG. I can't really remember as it was a fair few years back now...

Big Mike · 11-06-2006, 03:51 AM

Quite a few years ago Ford made a development car (I think it was an EL or AU wagon) that ran on Natural Gas. From my very vague memory of the subject, it produced an enormous amount more power per combustion unit than LPG. LPG has a higher octane, and if you can burn enough will make more power than petrol, but is about 25% less efficient than petrol (i.e. to get same power you must burn 25% more).

Natural Gas is available to virtually every home in Australia, and I would suggest connected to a fair majority (for cooktops, heaters, etc.). However, as stated above a 12-hour fill for 200 miles is rediculous, and the fact you would have to install special high-compression fillups at home (TO REDUCE FILLUP TIME), and the inherent danger of that, meant the Ford prototype wasn't further developed.

Keep in mind, there are no fixed laws yet about the quality of LPG. The levels of impurities and contaminents are restricted and monitored in petrol, but not in LPG. I don't know if CNG has any such regulations in place? But regardless the superior power per combustion unit, while its not available at service stations and installing a virtual service station at home would be the only way around a 40-50 hour fill time for our Australian requirements (of closer to 600 miles to tank), I can't see it happening here anytime soon.

As for New Zealand - I'd be interested in researching that a bit more. I know it would only have been in aftermarket conversions (like LPG until recently), but I wonder what the CNG product is really like there, if it was the fuel itself, or the conversion issues that caused greater engine wear? I'm intrigued - I think I'll go look it up!

**Polyal** · 11-06-2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Mike

Quite a few years ago Ford made a development car (I think it was an EL or AU wagon) that ran on Natural Gas. From my very vague memory of the subject, it produced an enormous amount more power per combustion unit than LPG. LPG has a higher octane, and if you can burn enough will make more power than petrol, but is about 25% less efficient than petrol (i.e. to get same power you must burn 25% more).

Natural Gas is available to virtually every home in Australia, and I would suggest connected to a fair majority (for cooktops, heaters, etc.). However, as stated above a 12-hour fill for 200 miles is rediculous, and the fact you would have to install special high-compression fillups at home (TO REDUCE FILLUP TIME), and the inherent danger of that, meant the Ford prototype wasn't further developed.

Keep in mind, there are no fixed laws yet about the quality of LPG. The levels of impurities and contaminents are restricted and monitored in petrol, but not in LPG. I don't know if CNG has any such regulations in place? But regardless the superior power per combustion unit, while its not available at service stations and installing a virtual service station at home would be the only way around a 40-50 hour fill time for our Australian requirements (of closer to 600 miles to tank), I can't see it happening here anytime soon.

As for New Zealand - I'd be interested in researching that a bit more. I know it would only have been in aftermarket conversions (like LPG until recently), but I wonder what the CNG product is really like there, if it was the fuel itself, or the conversion issues that caused greater engine wear? I'm intrigued - I think I'll go look it up!

hmm the only gas concpet I can think of was the EL predator, that ran a supercharger to help. Could be wrong though.

Iphido · 11-06-2006, 10:52 AM

I see quite a few CNG cars running around.

CNG has some draw backs. Namely a absolutely *HUGE* gas cylinder. Someone had a BA xr8 they had running on CNG, cylinder took up the whole boot! Also its only a commuter fuel not a long distance fuel.

Its another alternative.

EDManual · 11-06-2006, 11:51 AM

i am just building a new house, and one of the options they gave me(I didnt get it though) was a GAS CYLINDER REFUEL connection! So I wonder what the difference is with this and the connection for a car? Obviosly the connection they give you gives you enough pressure to fill up your Gas bottle! Maybe i should have got that....might have come in handy.