Update 5/27/14

I haven't updated in some time, but things are going well.  I have driven about 22,000 miles in the eight months since I purchased this vehicle and there have been no mechanical issues since the Impco system update.  Rather than attempting to update several different posts, I will cover all that I know within this posting.

Welcome to my CNG blog

Greetings and thank you for visiting my blog.  I consider myself to be an activist for the use of CNG as a fuel for our vehicles.  I recently purchased a CNG-Gasoline powered vehicle, and would like to share with you my experiences, good/bad and otherwise in an attempt to educate folks like me who are giving consideration to utilizing CNG.  I will also attempt to cover CNG related developments as they happen.  My only promise to you is that I will be truthful when I share my experiences so that you can make your own decision regarding this fuel as a possibility now or sometime in the future.

How Much Can I Really Save? Updated 12/27/13

Periodically I will post numbers on the actual cost of driving with CNG.  Keeping with my pledge to maintain honesty, these first numbers may be a little bit inaccurate due to an issue I had with the truck (which I will detail later) which sometimes left me operating on gasoline instead of CNG.  I have excluded those miles traveled as much as I could at this time and I would safely say that my results will be at least 90% accurate.

Freedom Fuel Opens Its Pumps

Just west of Linwood Avenue on 70th Street the area welcomes it's seventh public CNG station with the opening of Freedom Fuel with it's patriotic but a little creepy glaring eagle logo.   It is located on the Ivan Smith property.  Their current price is $1.79/gge.  The price is the same as the stations in Frierson, Coushatta and now Mansfield after it went up from $1.59.

Background Info

Admittedly, I can be a dreamer.  When a fragment of one of those dreams lands into the part of my mind that can become obsessive, it can create an issue for me.  This is what happened when I first heard the words "Haynesville Shale".

Reaching an Understanding

Early in this process, I began to understand how difficult it is for most people to own a CNG fueled vehicle and have it make sense.  At this time there is exactly one factory made CNG vehicle in the US, The Honda Civic GX (which I will go into greater detail at a later date).  Others are soon to come, but today that is the option.  That leaves us with purchasing one which has been converted, or converting one of our own.  There is a general understanding that the conversion costs around $10,000.  There is a federal tax credit which covers 50% of the costs of a NEW conversion.  If we do a little quick math on my individual situation, it would take around 3 years to recoup my expenses and begin to save money.  Possible for the adventurer?  Surely, but it isn't that simple.

Gallon of what? GGE explained simply.

Gasoline is a liquid, natural gas is, ....... a gas.  In order to understand the concept of GGE, you have to begin with the basic understanding that they both release energy when ignited.

The Vehicle

I ended up purchasing a 2010 Ford F150 supercrew 4x4 which had been converted to run on CNG and gasoline.  This is called a "bifuel conversion" in that it runs on both gasoline and CNG as opposed to a "dedicated CNG" which is CNG only.  Encana is an oil and gas production company which has been active in the Haynesville Shale, especially in the Red River Parish area. This truck had been an Encana fleet vehicle.

The Tank

When we fill up, natural gas is delivered from the pump into the storage tank on the vehicle.  The pump compresses the gas into the tank to a preset pressure (not volume), usually 3,600 psi.  It is easy to think that when we are filling up an empty 23 gge tank that we should get 23 gge of natural gas into that tank, but that isn't the case. There are a couple of points to understand so that you don't feel disappointed.

Filling Up....Updated 2/23/14

As of today, there are eight CNG refueling stations in the Shreveport-Bossier area.  Two are in Bossier, and are operated by the city of Bossier.  One is on Texas Street, and the other is near Centurytel Center. There is one located at Time-It lube on Pines Road near I20.  There is another located at the Relay Station just off I49 in Frierson, and one more at the Chevron on the corner of Hwy 84 and Hwy 171 in Mansfield.  There is an additional one located near Coushatta on Hwy 84 just east of the intersection with Hwy 1.  The City of Shreveport also operates a single pump at their facility on King's Highway just west of Linwood. Freedom Fuels is also located on 70th just west of Linwood Avenue in Shreveport. Today's prices are as follows:

Louisiana Wants Its Money...Excise Taxes......Updated 11/12/13

There is an excise tax on alternative fuels.  This was another new discovery for me.  As it was explained to me when I called Baton Rouge, this is Louisiana making sure that you pay the 16 cent per gallon tax that gasoline users are charged.  This tax makes sure that all of our fine state roads remain in the tip top condition that they are always in.

Is the Performance the Same as Gasoline?

This is the most frequently asked question that others have when talking about driving on CNG.  The truth is that it is not the same.  It is similar at times, but CNG does not generate the same power that gasoline does.  I pull a boat which weighs in the neighborhood of 3,500 lbs.  I can notice a difference when ascending a hill and pulling the boat out of the water.  I always conduct sort of an informal poll among the oil field guys that I talk to while we are both filling up and they report the same observation.  I cannot really notice much of a difference when driving unloaded at my usual at or just below the speed limit pace.

Impco System Update....Post updated 12/20/13

I bought this truck in September.  I noticed that as the temperature dropped over the next two months, I would sometimes have trouble when operating in CNG mode.  The engine would sometimes miss.  Sometimes it was barely noticeable, and sometimes it was so severe that it I had to switch it over to gasoline.  Once on gasoline, it ran fine.  I contacted Impco Technologies and after some discussion with their automotive technical support department as well as emailing photos of engine components it was ascertained that there is an update to the CNG system on this truck that had not yet been done.

Fast Fill vs Slow Fill....Home Refueling Options

When we use a CNG refueling station, the gas is pumped into the tank at a rapid pace so that we don't spend all day at the pump.  This is known as a "fast fill".  We have previously learned that due to temperature changes creating volume changes that there is a decrease in pressure once the CNG is pumped into the tank to 3,600 psi.  This makes the fast fill less efficient in achieving the goal of getting the most CNG into the tank per fill.  As a result, we end up filling up with greater frequency which is a hassle as well as more expensive in that we burn unnecessary fuel going to and from the pump.

Feedback/Suggestions for CNG Vehicle Designers

I will update this entry periodically if I notice something that would be relevant for those vehicle designers who might cruise the internet for research material and happen to stumble into this blog.