Can a Natural Gas conversion be added?

[BennyL]

So I was doing some reading, came across this story on Yahoo:

http://ca.autos.yahoo.com/p/758/the-worlds-cleanest-cars

It is a short article about CNG and other types of alternative fuels. They mention cars being run on dual systems, that basically add CNG or LPG (propane) systems in addition to the regular gasoline system in a car. Now I know this can be done, because many taxi cabs and government vehicles around here have these dual systems, but I've only seen them for LPG. In fact my work truck (GMC Sierra 2500 pickup) previously had an LPG system on it, but we took it off when we purchased the vehicle (previously a municipal city truck) because the propane tank and lines were all rusted and rotted out.

So what I'd like to know is, can this type of conversion be done on any car? I'm more specifically interested in using CNG though. And could one perhaps purchase Honda's overnight home filling station (they call it Phill) and use it with a conversion kit of their own?

What do you guys think?

 

[Steve S]

Work out the costs and if the $$$ and value to you work, do it.

 

[SecondMonkey]

You're in Canada, so I don't know your fuel prices. But if you were in the US, it would be an enourmous waste of money. You will would have to invest many many many thousands of dollars you could have otherwise spent on gas.

It usually works out better for fleet vehicles, considering they only need one filling station and buy the conversions or vehicles in bulk. They also may get tax benefits because of it.

PS - the "Phill" is NOT made by Honda.

 

[GMGuy]

Yes, dual fuel NGV can be done. Our fleet of vans at work are all dual fuel gas/ngv systems. (using an AFICS brain that interfaces with the vehicle computer system rather than a stand-alone brain of previous vehicle ecm generations). I would not do a stand alone NG system unless I had a very small driving area and 24 hour filling access.

The honda fill station would likely work for any system given the fill nozzles are fairly standardized. However, talk to union gas,or a conversion shop (Look in the yellow pages), they rent/sell them as well. One thing to keep in mind, home fill is an overnight process. Commercial fill is 5-10 minutes (depending on how large your tanks are).

Just a data point, the cost of conversion in our fleet is about $5000 per for a new installation (as opposed to reusing components when a vehicle gets retired). Fuel costs are cut by about 1/3 at todays prices (to err on the cautious side). We likely save more since we have our own high volume/pressure facilities and don't have to cover overhead for an actual gas station and cash register attendant.

Some brief reading: http://www.alternative-fuels.ca/technical.asp

Alex.