Despite Push For EVs, Natural Gas Vehicles Gaining Popularity.

No need to choose. A natural gas plug-in hybrid would be an ideal commuting machine. It would have the range needed for Maine's long commutes, and you wouldn't need to choose between running the heater and getting the rest of the way home. Of course, someone would have to install some pumps and truck LNG to places without a pipeline.

The infrastructure needed to make this fly is great, but it may be the most feasible option politically when gasoline reaches $6 a gallon - soon now...

The liberals made up an issue called "fracking". They don't like it, so natural gas is out, no matter how clean and cheap it is.

There is a new fracking technique that is being used that has eliminated the use of water as a fracturing medium.
They are using a form of liquified petroleum which replaces the water, therby eliminating a good portion of the dirty water that has to be cleaned up.
If it turns out to be successful, the viros will have to find something else to cry about.

It's pretty simple math, when you get down to it. Any vehicle or fleet can use natural gas. I've seen a lot of installations going in. They tend to be in regional pockets where, I suspect, there's reasonable access to supply and evidence of sufficient converts.

Anyone have performance data (so I won't have to look it up)?

Diesel over electric hybrid is the way to go. I'd take one of those in a minute over a NG vehicle of any type since they are capable of 80 mpg and will last hundreds of thousands of miles.

But until they are actually imported into this country, I'll keep my 407,000 mile, 50 mpg getting, full size (seats 5 comfortably) VW TDI Passat.

At 25,000 miles a year, my '03 Jetta TDI won't be far behind yours.

(Edited from 45000 to 25000 after the coffee kicked in.)

I do 40,000 a year, but just bought a wagon so the mileage will be cut down between the two cars. I love the room in it, but the mileage is down to 47/48 mpg.

There are people experimenting with a CNG/diesel blend that are reporting significant results. While the mileage is down some, the cost to fill is less, making it worthy of further experimentation. I think a hybrid system of CNG/diesel and electric is worthy of note, but wonder why no one has worked on such a system. Here is a link to a guy who put a TDI motor into an older Honda Insight and reported 96 mpg. He did 92 mpg average over 3,000 miles when he drove it across the country to get the two computer systems working together, so that was with just the diesel engine. This isn't some theoretical mileage, it's actual real-world on a road legal car and not some flimsy tripod abomination. But I digress...

All Passat diesels, and the wagon has a 25 gallon fuel tank, which means it will go 1,200+ miles between fillups.

Tell me if this is true or not. I seem to remember several years ago there was a Mainer who had a Volkswagon diesel and he actually ran it on old vegetable oil. He would go around to local restaurants, collect their old cooking oil they were going to throw out, then put it right into his gas tank. Anyone else hear that story? Would it really work?

And another option: Wood
http://news.russelllandsonlakemartin.com/2012-05-ecar.html

"Would it really work?"

A number of people have converted diesels to burn plain vegetable oil. I believe there are several in Maine. The conversion is fairly simple, just an extra tank.

But why bother? As noted above, our VW diesels already get 50 mpg and are fun to drive.

Islander,
There are a few people around the state using wood gasification with generators, that I know of.
The bigger one I saw was 50KW, I think he plans to sell power with it to Bangor Hydro- not sure.
His design would work great with a lumber mill, as it runs on wood chips straight out of a chipper w/ some drying time.
I know he's interested in selling the units.
As you have shown, I guess it works well with trucks too.
Not sure how they over came the acceleration issue though.
Back in WW2 the Swedes used it to fuel some of their military trucks, so it must work.
I'm wanting to put on on my "53" M37 for a woods truck.
Maybe someday, when I have time.

As far as propane/ natural gas, Bloom Energy has developed a solid oxidized fuel cell.
http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/energy-server/
Their list of customers is quite impressive.
I wrote to the company to see if this could be used in wood gasification.
Apparently I'm too small, the reply I got was the they would be producing home size units in the near future.
With no mention if they thought it was possible.
Like I could afford one anyway.

I've spent hours online and discussing this with the guy that built it.
This sure makes since for someone who has a lot of land with trees/ scrub brush only good for chipping.
Down side is running a generator all the time and the maintenance to the generator.
I guess the gasification unit is pretty tough though, with few moving parts.

We were headed down to the boat one morning and happened to see the truck parked at the fire station. Ben is an interesting person and has been at this for awhile. Contact him with any questions, from what I hear he enjoys passing on info.

Apollo, yes it has been done many times. However, there are consequences.

The seals in the $1,500 injection pump do not like waste vegetable oil (WVO) and degrade fast. If the kit is not properly installed it will clog your car very fast and if you shut the car down running on WVO you are assured a lot of time to clear the lines manually to get it to start again. It also causes varnish to polymerize on your fuel injectors, which degrades them fast necessitating their replacement sooner than expected (another $500). Most people do not filter the WVO to sufficient standards, despite thinking they do, then wonder why their car doesn't run right. It's such an issue in the VW world that most mechanics will not work on a TDI with the Greasecar system installed since they are almost impossible to get running correctly.

I only run diesel in any of my VW's and they will never see WVO since I believe it prematurely kills them, and they die a slow agonizing death. I do add 2 cycle oil and Power Service injector cleaner to every tankful, and have not had a single problem. I changed the head gasket at 393,000 miles and you could still read the writing on the top of the pistons.

For running the WVO, the old Mercedes cars were almost designed for it. The pumps are large enough and have the right seals, and they do not suffer from varnish buildup on the injectors. A lot of people I know are running this setup with great results. Unfortunately the WVO is getting harder to find since a lot of people want it as a fuel source. As such restaurants are able to charge for it whereas a few years ago they had to pay to get rid of it. The older Mercedes cars also only get 26-27 mpg, so they're not in the same category as the TDI for mileage.

You are also supposed to pay a Maine fuel tax for every gallon you burn in your car, but most people I know don't do this. I have been tempted to report them, especially the local uber-liberal who thinks everyone should pay more taxes (how ironic), but I cannot bring myself to make the (rat) call.

"GM calls it the greatest concentration of Chevrolet Volts in the world."

(No need to fact check that one)

"While Chevrolet made 100 Volts available, only 55 of the community residents took advantage of the various tax credits, including a $7,500 federal tax credit and a $7,500 rebate from Pecan Street on their Volt purchases."

(Contrary to accepted science, you can give these f'n things away . . but you still can't fool everyone)

"Pecan Street is funded by a $10.4 million grant from the Energy Department and more than $14 million in matching funds from project partners."

(We get to share in the spoils, too, right?)

Nah, just like TARP when it comes time to consume this crap sandwich the taxpayers don't get any of the bread.

Looks like more insanity pushing people towards EV's.
Food as Fuel: This summer’s drought highlights the madness of the government’s ethanol mandates.

"It gets even more ironic....the U.S. ethanol industry is using domestic corn to make ethanol and shipping that fuel to Brazil while domestic livestock producers are importing Brazilian corn so they can produce bacon in America."

Insane...totally insane. They have to TRY to be this dumb...right?

Damn the evidence! Full speed ahead!

Central Maine Power Company testing electric cars
August 03, 2012 08:03 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- Central Maine Power Company says an evaluation of electric vehicles in its fleet is turning up some positive results.

CMP, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, says its evaluation of plug-in electric vehicles is the first of three electric vehicle pilot programs it plans to carry out under an agreement with the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

http://www.wgme.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.me/3d47ebee-www.w...

The Union of Concerned Scientists released a study this spring on whether EVs actually reduce emissions. For many of us, they don't. This reviewer finds that even that report was overly optimistic.

Like jeepn, I'm still waiting for diesel electric hybrids. That should be the best solution for the foreseeable future- great mileage and no enormous infrastructure changes (and subsidies) needed.