Smart Car: You're joking, right?

[Dixie Dude]

For use of compressed natural gas (CNG).  At work we had a compressor which took 440 volts to operate.  It came in on a tractor-trailer and was 8' x 40' which included a bank of bottles.  The bottles are the same containers used for oxygen or acetylene like what is used in welding or in hospitals.  The gas bottles holds 2000-2500 lbs of pressure.  One or two bottles can power a car or truck.  With the large compressor station, you can quick fill your bottles in about 15 minutes.  The Honda CNG car only uses one bottle.  Our service trucks have 2-3 in the back, under the tool box in a pickup.  Some came from GM already equiped with the bottles under the bed.  Natural gas is very clean burning.  The city of Nashville used them and rebuilt the engines after 200,000 miles and there was no carbon buildup on the valves.  Engines can last longer with CNG.  It can also be blended with diesel and injected with diesel in a diesel engine.  Diesel is only used as a lubricant in the blend.  25% of the vehicles in America are fleet cars and trucks.  If fleets such as mail trucks, UPS, Fedex, city vehicles, county, state, and Federal vehicles were switched, it would save 40% of our imported oil.  The switch can be made with 2-5 years.  Require gas service stations to have compressors where natural gas is available.  Require fleets to convert.  The car companies can make them easily with off the shelf components, no new technology.  The only place natural gas would probably not be readily available would be in the western states and Alaska, maybe the plains states in some places.  However east coast fleets could be easily converted as well as west coast.  If natural gas mains were extended or installed along the interstate highway system out west and in the mountain states, and later along US highways, stations could be installed to fill the tanks cross country.  Our heavy service trucks can get about 100 miles on a bottle, two bottles will give about 200 miles depending on the weight carried.  Don't know about car mileage.

[mechanic]

It's not a great deal to convert to CNG.  We have numerous forklift fleets running on it.  The problem is that CNG comes from the same wells often as crude.  We have to import both.  If we increase CNG use, we have to increase supply, or buy more offshore.  Since many homes use NG as a heat source, the increased demand would increase cost. 

Its a vicious circle.  Yes, we have sources to drill for CNG, but they are under the same restrictions as crude.

Having worked with electric vehicles for 40 years, I can tell you the power train and controls are not the issue.  We have very efficient controls available, and to make an electric vehicle is not a big deal.  The problem is the batteries.  We still don't have a battery that will get the job done.

[Dixie Dude]

Not exactly right Mechanic.  Natural gas is found in coal seams, in oil wells, and by itself.  In one area of Alaska alone, there is a 47 year supply for the lower 48 states and they are currently installing an 800 mile pipeline through Canada to tap this.  America currently produces 98% of it's natural gas, with the other 2% coming from Canada.  It is also very difficult to import since it has to be liquified.  There are very few liquification ships available. Also, ALL of the residential natural gas can be produced from America's dairy farms and feed stalls alone if it were properly tapped.  It can also be produced from algae and seaweed that grows 6' a day in shallow sea water.  It can also be tapped from landfills (we do it in Birmingham's landfills, 10 psig pressure comes out).  It is far more readily available than oil.  25% of natural gas is already being used to produce electricity.  This could be switched to wind, solar, and nuclear, and used for vehicle use.  We also currently have about an estimated 50 year supply already tapped in the US, with estimates as high as 200 years.  You also may be thinking about propane which is similar to natural gas, but is made in refining oil. 

[mechanic]

  We also currently have about an estimated 50 year supply already tapped in the US, with estimates as high as 200 years.

Some, at least of my opinion comes from end user sources, not the supply side.  I know that in my area, during peak cold season, we have a problem and our supplier says that there is not enough supply.  It may be that there is not enough pumping capacity.  I have a son-in-law that repairs equipment used in natural gas production, but he usually is in places like India and Egypt, not often stateside.  In the forklift industry where I have made my living for the last few decades, it has been tried with varying levels of success.  I guess the most pressing problem to an industry is training people to fill the bottles and handle it safely.

Some of the local landfills have started using the methane from waste instead of burning it off, but all in all, with more and more places being placed off limiits, and the coal industry under attack, I don't know if it will continue to be as available as it is.

If the carbon tax comes on line, many of us may have to choose between heating our homes and eating.  Powering our cars will be an afterthought.

[Dixie Dude]

At least with natural gas it is the lowest carbon emmission fuel.  My company not only is a end user distribution company but is also a drilling and supply company.  Yes during cold weather some industrial customers are curtailed, not because of lack of supply of gas, but because the pipelines can't delivery the capacity demand.  We are constantly upgrading our systems with larger mains, higher pressure mains, etc, to solve some of these problems.  Most come from aging systems that were undersized for growth.  Right now, coal is our largest supply reserve, over 800 years, with natural gas second.  Very long term, you can run hydrogen gas through the natural gas system.  No matter what fuel you use, we have to go nuclear for electric production.  With extra nuclear power, we can make hydrogen gas out of sea water and pump it through the natural gas system.  Solar and wind power are limited to areas where a consistant wind or a lot of year round sunlight is available, like the desert areas.  Nuclear is the only option for other areas.  Then make synthetic fuel from coal or hydrogen from sea water.  Battery storage for electric is the Achiles heal of electric transportation, and will be for a long time.  Even if you solved the battery problem, you would increase electric power consumption for recharging by 20-30%.  Therefore more power plants of some kind.