Natural gas pumps coming to more filling stations
20.05.12
Natural gas may be coming to a filling station near you. But the fuel continues to be ignored by automakers, the government and consumers even though it's far cheaper than gasoline and would wean the U.S. off foreign oil.
A major natural gas developer plans to vastly increase the number of truck stops that offer liquid natural gas . That could help boost its use in the vehicles that burn the most fuel, while promoting its availability to a wider market, the Associated Press reports. But as usual, the industry's focus is on trucks and commercial fleets. No one seems to care whether consumers use it, and only one automaker, Honda, offers a natural-gas powered car made in the U.S., the Honda Civic GX, recently renamed the NG. Honda sells an inconsequential average of about 1,000 of them a year.
Part of the reason that natural gas is such an utter failure at a time when it should be more popular than electricity for powering vehicles is that it's available at only a handful of public stations. There are also home fueling units that could mean most commuters would never have to go near a gas station.
Source: USA TODAY