Ok, so I keep seeing Zeroes in the Natural Gas powered category, so here goes nothing.

About a year ago, I considered the purchase of the '05 Honda Civic GX. This vehicle is powered by natural gas alone, and drives similar to any other vehicle. While mile-per-gallon equivalents were similar to hybrids, some concern was placed on filling stations (which aren't abundant in the Kansas City area). Enter "Phill".

The "Phill" is a device that is hooked-up to your home's natural gas line (by a professional plumber/electrician) and pumps natural gas into your Civic overnight while you're sleeping. Many gas companies and municipalities will give credits back. In fact, a separate gas meter is often times hooked-up for free to measure the car's use, and a discounted rate is applied.

The biggest kicker is that it makes the perfect commuter vehicle, no more gasoline, and it emits so much less carbon dioxide.

I think the '06 Civic GX has the same system available.

Fleets love it and there are some happy customers out there.

Also, Kudos to the Honda Civic for making Motor Trend's Car of the Year!

RH77

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Wow, that's amazing, you should get one, haha. Bense, who's on here but has said like nothing bought a set of gx pistons to make a high compression motor, but other than that no one talks about the damn car. I'd love to run a natural gas supplement (sorta like the h2) for my car just for playing.

Many natural gas powered engines are dual-operational, I think Ford makes one for the F-150. On an aside, the trick is you need high pressure natural gas storage, almost liquification (LNG). Good luck on that supplement...

Anyways, very few people go for the GX (unless you're talking about that stupid Lexus gas guzzler SUV). City fleets usually buy them anyways. I thought I'd bring it up, for S&G's.

RH77

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I've seen natural gas supplements for sale before. In mexico, up in the mountains where you can't get to town but for a 3 hour drive, they have all their trucks running on natural gas. They can get deliveries easier and all that business, it's no biggy to them.

Thanks for bringing this up. I didn't know that they offered the Civic GX outside of California... guess I was wrong.

It does appear that the home refilling station is the best bet when it comes to natural gas cars. I would love one if I had to commute to work.

The downside of the "phill" (if I remember correctly) is that you have to lease it for about $70/month, if not more. I think they should just charge like $1000 for one of these units and include it on the sticker price of the car.

Natural gas companies love these things b/c they make their product in higher demand. I'm certain the natural gas companies would love a piece of the big oil pie.

I actually live very close to a natural gas company and they have a gas station for natural gas vehicles on site. It would make much more sense for me to just fill up there.

Then again I've also heard of people converting their cars to run on propane. I wonder how difficult this is.

It's not terribly difficult. Just think of some mexican farmers who never go to the city, make everything themselves that they eat and use, live in a village of 20, blah blah blah, did this to their trucks by themselves. It's doable.

I was unaware that anyone made something that would allow you to fill your CNG vehicle from your house. Now the GX sounds a lot more appealing...especially if they eventually just sell you the Phill instead of making you lease it.

A few links you might find interesting:

GX Info 1

GX Info 2

A little about Phill

I think you may be able to purchase it if you live in selected areas -- I'd contact the manufacturer for more info. The problem with the device is that the manufacturer is a small Canadian company that can only make so many, and after Honda teamed-up with them, the demand has spiked, so availability may be limited until they can ramp up production (hence the lease perhaps?)

With a range of 200 miles, I think it's a great idea, and could really catch on -- especially on the coasts. In the midwest, ethanol may be a better bet, but I hear that it actually produces more CO2 than gasoline, but is more efficient (and many vehicles can't take the current E85 fuel). Ford is on the cutting edge with the FFV series in many of their new models, that can run on E85.

There are so many options out there right now, but much of the public is stuck on the dino-burner or maybe the hybrid since it's becoming more mainstream. I think a diesel-electric hybrid would be great, especially with the stricter standards on diesel fuel in 06-07+

RH77

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who there called my name?

ironically, i'm researching on converting to e85

I called your name, but anyway, converting to e85 is tough because you need to run up to 110 octane or something silly, but you could definately build the compression and combine that with tuning and lots of timing on an old car, I will look into it, yay for ethanol.

just wait till you get to college lol

YAY for reflux distilleries!

Japan's taxis use liquid propane. I could never tell the difference. In fact, they ran a little quieter. When I drove a hotel courtesy shuttle in the US, they used natural gas. I couldn't tell the difference.

In the US, many people think a loud engine is more powerful. If it's quiet, it's got to be wimpy. That's one objection I hear about electric vehicles. No roar means no power. But I've seen some excellent YouTube videos of some very fast cars. I think if they piped in the roar of an engine and made it vary based on the position of the accelerator pedal, put used an electric engine, lots of people would want them. It's a psychological thing.

m

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I was trying to get my hands on a GX before I got my VX. Honda won't sell a GX in Minnesota due to the cold winters. Apparently the GX doesn't work so great in really cold weather.

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Honda Civic VX Info/Links
Remember to use good Webiquette!

Honda motorworks in LaCross wisconsin has at least one GX for sale, they only sold them new in Californa, but some of them migrated, the engine on it looks pretty normal, even then injectors look like regulare injectors, only with a differnt fuel rail, and fuel regulator, but for the most part it looked like a normal gas engine, I asked about installing a CNG (compressed natural gas) system in a hybrid for even cleaner running, and they said they never heard of anyone doing that.