Pickens' natural gas idea picking up steam

Since Pickens began pushing his plan last summer, Honda has seen increased demand for the Civic GX, said Todd Mittleman, American Honda Motor Co.’s environmental specialist. But the number sold is still tiny — just 2,000 vehicles nationwide.  Honda continues to heavily invest in research and development of battery electric and hybrid vehicles, but “as gas prices remain high, there will be growing demand for CNG vehicles,” Mittleman said.

One of the biggest challenges for CNG vehicles is a lack of fueling stations. There are only 1,200 natural gas stations in the nation, compared with more than 100,000 gas stations. So even if you buy a CNG car, you might not be able to get very far.

Pickens wants to change that. His Clean Energy Fuels is building 35 to 40 filling stations across the country and last month purchased a Toronto company called FuelMaker, which sells a home fueling device — called Phill — that lets people gas up at home via a natural gas line. The machine costs $3,500 and another $500 to $1,000 to install.

“It’s going to be an excellent bridge to move people away from gasoline to natural gas because they can fuel up at their house,” said Harger of Clean Energy. “People will be able to buy these and use them in their home and essentially never have to go to fueling station for a commuter car.”

Despite the CNG buzz, a number of energy experts argue that natural gas is the wrong direction for the nation, because it would simply replace one limited fossil fuel for another and require costly vehicle conversions and a new infrastructure.

“While CNG is somewhat cleaner than gasoline, moving to a new fossil fuel to power our cars is expensive and is a lower priority than increasing fuel economy and moving away from fossils altogether,” said Therese Langer, transportation director for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

Plus, the price of natural gas is not guaranteed to stay low if millions of cars and trucks start relying on it, said Slocum of Public Citizen. “As we know, prices and markets change based on supply and demand, so you will see prices increase,” he said.

In the short term, carmakers should invest in fuel efficiency technologies like turbocharging, direct injection, lightweight materials and hybrids, said Langer. In the longer term, electric vehicles, powered by batteries or recharged through a plug, will be increasingly important, she said.

General Motors moved in that direction last month when it unveiled the Chevrolet Volt, an electric car powered by a 400-pound lithium-ion battery with enough power to go 40 miles on a single charge before switching to a gas engine. The gas engine then creates electricity on board to power the car for several hundred additional miles.

GM expects production of the Volt to begin in November 2010, but the company is continuing to develop the battery technology. Industry watchers expect the car to be sold for about $40,000.

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