It was big in NZ 15 years back...bigger than LPG. The CNG market disappeared becuase it wasnt economical (??)
Still quite big in Europe
A few years back, all the rage was Compressed Natural gas and how ultimately you could buy a converted car and go home and fill it from your house. Both the government and industry were saying how brilliant it would be for everyone. To my knowledge Ford even built a few falcons, but now its virtually disappeared, all anyone wants to know now are hybrids with their electric motors or some other alternative fuel.
As I understand it we have huge amounts of gas available in this country would it not be simpler at least in the short term to promote this method. I know they were pushing LPG but what about CNG?
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It was big in NZ 15 years back...bigger than LPG. The CNG market disappeared becuase it wasnt economical (??)
Still quite big in Europe
Drawbacks
Compressed natural gas vehicles require a greater amount of space for fuel storage than conventional gasoline power vehicles. Since it is a compressed gas, rather than a liquid like gasoline, CNG takes up more space for each GGE (Gallon of Gas Equivalent). Therefore, the tanks used to store the CNG usually take up additional space in the trunk of a car or bed of a pickup truck which runs on CNG. While CNG-powered vehicles are considered to be safer than gasoline-powered vehicles [2][3], there are concerns about how best to fight fires involving CNG vehicles.[4]
CNG compared to LNG
CNG is often confused with liquefied natural gas (LNG). While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquefied form. CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling process and cryogenic tanks. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of gasoline or petrol and the use of very high pressures (3000 to 4000 psi, or 205 to 275 bar).
Basically many believe that the tanks are too big and heavy for passenger care use, they are used in some passenger buses in Adelaide.
canberra has an outlet see link on page
Yeah okay it might be a bit more cumbersome ssrattus, but just because its a bit more difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Yonks ago the federal government fleet used to be all LPG, why not take a stand and say right all our vehicles will be CNG if not at least LPG. Instead Rudd says we will invest 35 Mil as well as Vic Govt 35 Mil and the governments will buy hybrid camry's. Shit how many gas conversions do you think 70 Mil will get you ????? I just don't get, we have an abundant resource which is going begging. And moreover why not reduce the tax on gas and promote it more so that more people are enticed to convert??
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The problem with natural gas is that it's a lot cheaper than LPG, and they can't control your usage of it at home, and can't tax it the same way they tax petrol and LPG.
Therefore, the government dont want the word getting out about it.
That's basically it, they can't make as much money off it.
I think you hit the nail on the head there biggeorge
they have been running buses in perth on it for some time now.
One of the local truck companies is running a dual diesel/cng system on some of their prime movers pulling quad road trains (175 tonne gross), but the results are still pretty poor.
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