Will Your Next Car Run On Fracking Gas?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

For a long time, taxis, trucks, delivery vans have been on the bottle. On a bottle of CNG, or Compressed Natural Gas. Now, “major automakers like General Motors and Chrysler are gearing up to invest in companies that make engines and parts for vehicles that run on the fuel,” says Reuters.

Actually, it doesn’t take much to make an ICE run on CNG. The biggest challenges are where to place the tank and how to get the EPA certification. A retrofitted tank takes up valuable trunk space while that gasoline tank stays empty (or filled, for bi-fuel systems popular in Europe.) Factory-built vehicles get around these challenges. CNG produces significantly less pollutants. CNG costs about half of the equivalent amount of gasoline. And most of all, says Reuters:

“The United States has more natural gas than it knows what to do with – up to 100 years of supply, experts say.”

Actually, experts said that in 2009 U.S. reserves of natural gas were estimated as 2,074 trillion cubic feet (59 trillion cubic meters). That may have been a wrong number. The CIA has a lower figure of 244 trillion cubic feet (6.9 trillion cubic meters.) Why the difference of opinion? A drilling technique called “fracking” can release huge reserves of natural gas trapped in shale rock, but that process is not without its fracking enemies.

CNG could give ye olde ICE a few years more. No wonder that GM and Chrysler are warming up to the idea. The question is: What took them so long? It’s no bleeding edge technology. The all knowing Wikipedia says that by 2009, there were 11.2 million CNG powered vehicles on the roads of this planet. They are popular in Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil and the Iran. CNG tanks are a common sight in taxis in Tokyo, Hong Kong, the limo that took me from Detroit airport to Bricktown was on the bottle.

In the U.S., there is a small cottage industry of CNG conversions. The Honda Civic GX, an ex factory CNG car that will be available to the public next year, claims a range of 225 to 250 miles on a full tank of gas. Then there are the Chinese.

It is more than likely that you could fill a CNG car at home. The U.S. sits on a massive infrastructure of natural gas pipes, fueling stoves and heaters across the nation. A home refueling appliance can compress gas into the cylinder. It costs about $3,500 uninstalled and uses 800 watts of power when running. Without gas at home, you need a CNG filling station. They are surprisingly plenty, crossing the continent on CNG would still be a challenge.

Let’s ask the CIA what they think about CNG. The natural gas reserves of the U.S. are the sixth largest in the world, ranking between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Good. China has less than half of the U.S. reserves. No wonder they like EVs. Tiny Qatar has roughly four times the reserves of the U.S. and eight times the reserves of China. Expect that peninsula to be liberated by pro-democracy forces before China buys it.

The kings of gas are Russia and Iran. Ooops.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Shaker Shaker on Jul 03, 2011

    The demand for natural gas is low, and the price is flat. The Marcellus Shale media blitz and "gold rush" mentality means that rapid deployment of wells is meant to beat impending regulations (NJ has banned fracking). Unless demand is increased massively and quickly, (CNG cars ain't going to do it) there is no economic scenario that makes sense EXCEPT - we sell the NG to China. The fact that Exxon/Mobil are getting interested leads me to believe that the next great exploitation is about to begin, and that water contamination is the last thing on their minds. They will use the standard toolbox (lobbyists, ad campaigns, promises of prosperity to farmers to dupe them into letting them drill on their land), and decry any sort of regulation as "job killing". At present, WE DON'T NEED the natural gas - but China does. They'll probably find a way to pipe it to Canada, who already sells NG to China, who knows. I just don't trust the bastards, what can I say?

    • MikeAR MikeAR on Jul 03, 2011

      I don't trust them either but I trust the government and environmentalists by orders of magnitude less.

  • Pch101 Pch101 on Jul 03, 2011
    And most of all, says Reuters: "The United States has more natural gas than it knows what to do with" Er, the US imports natural gas. During 2010, 15% of US consumption came from abroad. During 2005, when the economy was in a growth stage of the cycle, 20% of the gas was imported. The world's largest reserves are in Russia and Iran. Last I checked, we don't trade with Iran and Russia isn't exactly our best friend. You may as well advocate switching from a cocaine habit to heroin addiction as a solution to one's drug problems.
    • Pch101 Pch101 on Jul 03, 2011

      To clarify this, net imports equaled 11% of US consumption during 2010, and 17% during 2005, respectively. (The prior figures are for imports and they are correct, but they do not account for exports over the same periods.) Still, the US is a net importer of gas.

  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
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