Natural Gas Vehicle or NGV sounds nice, but how practical is this kind of car? We're only going to look at this question from the standpoint of you being a home owner looking to buy a new car in response to the highest gas prices in history. Does it make sense to purchase a NGV in 2008?
No Gasoline Required - No Long Distance Travel Considered
The pure natural gas vehicle, like the 2008 Honda GX NGV, has no gasoline related emissions to the environment. It also virtually has no emission impact on the environment. For this reason, the Honda GX NGV has been rated as the greenest car in the U.S. since 2000 by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. For 2008, ACEEE has named the Honda Civic GX, the Toyota Prius, and the Honda Civic Hybrid as the top three most green cars in the U.S. respectively.
While great for the Honda GX, this car is mostly unavailable to many folks in the U.S. because it is difficult to refuel. For normal everyday driving, very few areas of the country have sufficient filling station coverage to make driving this car a possibility. For example, in Phoenix, this are only about 14 filling stations around the whole metropolitan area. With as spread out as Phoenix is, it would a difficult car choice to make as much of your driving time would be spent getting to the next fill up. The Honda GX has a maximum range on a tank of around 225 miles. In the whole state of California there are only about 240 places to fill up.
Alternative To A Gas Station To Fill An NGV
There is good news for the lack of public filling stations, or gas stations, for the NGV. The alternative to the gas station is a home filling station called The Phill. This piece of equipment is installed at your home, typically inside or outside your garage. It is connected to your local gas line to your home. The Phill fills your gas tank over night. That's right it takes somewhere 16 hours to completely fill the gas tank if the tank is empty. This is a convenient feature of having a NGV being able to fill up at home. Filling up on the road is a different story as these stations are designed to fill a tank rather quickly as it all has to do with the compression of the gas used to fill the tank.
With having the Phill available at home, the driving time to the gas station could be radically minimized. How often in a day does the average American drive more than 200 miles? The NGV could be used as the family car used to commute to and from work, as well as dropping the kids off at school and other activities, and going to the grocery store. Whereas the prized SUV could be stored in the garage only to be used for those rare occasions when the family is loaded up and carted out of town on summer vacation.
Considering A Natural Gas Vehicle?
If you are considering making a switch to this kind of automobile make sure you can drive it sensibly in your area. One of the first things you should check out is where can you purchase gas. If you check with your local Honda dealer they should be able to give you locations in your area where you can fill up. Are these locations near you, or near where you live. Do you live in your own home? If so, do you have a homeowners association? Do they allow for the outdoor installation of the Phill? You will need to explore this closely with your HOA.
In some states, the state and local governments have begun to step in to authorize installation of these in home "Philling" stations where the HOA wouldn't allow it. This is similar to the trend being found in Arizona in the case of Solar Panels. Arizona has passed a law that prohibits an HOA from stopping a homeowner from installing solar panel hot water and electric systems on roof tops and back yards.
One of the last considerations to make is how many miles a day do you drive. If you have a long commute, this car may not be the best option for you given it's limited range per tank of gas. Similarly, one of the considerations to make here too is why are you getting this particular car versus a more fuel efficient car. If you are looking for more fuel efficiency then the Honda GX might not be the right fit for you. It only gets 24 mpg city and 36 mpg on the highway. Your gas bill will be similar to what you might have had when gas prices were around $2.25/gal and getting similar gas mileage to the Honda GX. If your goal is to drive a car that has very little impact on the environment, then the NGV is probably your best choice.
NGV Or Not NGV?
The choice is clearly yours to make. Do you value saving money at the pump? Do you value doing something good for the environment? Do you value true efficiency improvements? Do you value looking really good? And there are many other things to mention what goes into purchasing a car. With gas prices continuing to go up, Americans are left scratching their heads about what to do. Many are changing their driving habits to less errands, car pooling, and buying more fuel efficient cars. If you plan to purchase something new and value that it is a green car then go to GreenerCars.org.
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