quote Originally posted by Monkeyman: .......For some reason, I was under the impression that CNG powered vehicles lost power compared to gasoline powered vehicles.....

I drove a Renault Alliance that had been converted to dual fuel use back in the early 80's when I worked for Wisconsin Gas ( our natural gas company at the time ) and the difference in power between the two fuels wasn't perceptable. Then again, the Alliance accelerated like a lawn mower engine.........

Mark

Not much difference between 12hp and 10 1/2hp, eh?

quote Originally posted by Xanth: Is that legal? I remember hearing about people using home heating oil in diesel trucks. One person I know got pulled over and ticketed for using the wrong fuel, apparently there is a die put in one of them, so if your fuel doesn't match you get ticketed.

Fuel tax, All about the fuel tax, and yes they are greedy about it. If the fuel is intended to be used on-road, you must pay the highway tax, if not you are using off road fuel for an on road vehicle. It can be worse than a fine.

quote Originally posted by randye: Privately owned right now, but you can rest assured that first news of an IPO, if and when it occurs, *will* be announced to my friends

randye , you do remember we are friends ? (CoolBlue87GT = Friend ) Don't forget !!!

If you put this in something like a Corolla or a Prizm it would be fantastic. i get 40MPG in my Prizm, add this into the mix and you would have almost a 1k mile range.

My only concern would be infrastructure costs. That is why this idea didn't have much appeal for me until I saw the home refueling station. That is the thing that make it REALLY economical.

Think about the cost involved in setting up the infrastructure, that will be taken out of the profits and that may inflate prices for a time. But if you compress your own at home you are paying home gas prices which is even less than CNG. You just have to pay to compress it yourself. Even there, you are coming out ahead if you don't mind the up front costs...and the govt is giving tax breaks for that. add to that the HOV lane usage and I'm seriously thinking about doing it.

Looks like you have to install a second meter for the refuel stations anyway I wonder how long will it be before the gas companies start leasing the refuel stations.
You just pay a little on each bill. In my opinion that would get a lot of people to look. Its the up front money that keeps most people from doing it.

I wouldn't be able to do it in my area because there isn't any gas service to my house.