Eco Car

[AllanY2525]

Well, Home Depot does propane tank exchange - why not gas stations.
U-Haul stores in my local area (MD) refill any tank that has the standard
connector on top of it - they sell it by the gallon like gasoline.

They could come out with four sizes of a universal tank that would be designed
for small, medium, and large passenger cards, and an extra large refillable or
swappable tank for truck/suv models that would be converted.

You pull in to the gas station, swap your empty tank for a full one, or
re-fuel the tank you already have - either way it could be done easily.
They even have electronic devices (cousins of smoke detectors) that
can sniff out a propane or natural gas leak and sound an alarm - my
camper has one.

[ForumManager]

I was thinking that things probably have changed in the 15 years since I looked into it.
So how/where is the refueling done?
Do you think regular gas stations would be willing to add NG pumps?

[AllanY2525]

They now have a "quick coupler" fitting that allows totally "leak-free" refueling.
Refueling a natural gas powered vehicle would be basically the same as
sticking the fuel nozzle from a gasoline pump into your gas tank opening,
with the addition of the quick-coupling connector.

Liquified natural gas (ie: gas compressed to the point of being liquid inside
the fuel cylinder) would give a mid size sedan about the same number of
"miles until empty" as a conventional, gasoline powered sedan of the
same approximate size and weight.

In Washington DC they have a taxi company called "Clean air cabs" which use
Ford Crown Victoria sedans converted to run on propane.  They have V-8
engines in them and are quite "peppy" to drive - and very, VERY clean running.

Natural gas produces slightly less horsepower in a converted gasoline engine
than that produced by real gasoline - that's the only major difference in how
these converted cars drive.

[ForumManager]

I once contacted the gas company regarding natural gas fueled vehicles because I heard that their vehicles run by natural gas.
It is not difficult to convert a regular car to run on natural gas. It was several years ago....maybe 15.  They did not seem open to allowing    a refueling system on a person's home or allowing access to their own refueling systems. A home system would be ideal! They also said that the gas that the vehicles carried took up what would be the entire trunk area and the distance you could travel  was very limited. The limitations were be for a normal size vehicle though, not a one peson roadster that is featured in the website link.

Unless the gas company has changed their outlook about refueling, how would you get the fuel?

[jay]

I found this Eco Roadster on the internet today.  The vehicle runs on compressed natural gas.  The company is starting production in October 2006.  The company is also looking for future production facilities in other parts of the country.  Could we lure a manufacturing facility to the city of Youngstown?  The web address is
www.eco-fueler.com