Bi-Fuel CNG, Inc.Benefits of Natural Gas
The primary benefit of NGVs driving the current large increase in demand is the price differential between CNG and gasoline. There are several ways to calculate or state this benefit. For example, assuming a car gets 25 MPG using either fuel, gasoline at $4.00/gallon and CNG at $1.30/gallon:
The miles per gallon equivalent is 76.9 MPGe versus 25 MPG.
The cost per mile driven is $.05 versus $.16.
The CNG consumer gets 19.2 MP$ (miles per dollar of fuel) versus 6.3 for gasoline.
There are many additional benefits that make NGVs attractive:
There are significant Federal and State tax credits:
50-80% of incremental cost of conversion Federal Tax credit on new dedicated vehicles (usually not applicable for used cars, most likely the main reason Honda went dedicated).
$1,000 Federal tax credit for a home refueling station (applicable for us).
A $0.50/gallon Federal tax credit to sellers of CNG.
Utah (our initial market) - 50% of the incremental cost of conversion - $2,500 – 3,000 limit, can be carried forward 5 years.
NGVs are clean – “Compared with vehicles fueled by conventional diesel and gasoline, natural gas vehicles can produce significantly lower amounts of harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and toxic and carcinogenic pollutants as well as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has called the natural gas Honda Civic GX the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle on Earth.”
CNG is safer than gasoline – fuel cylinders are almost impossible to rupture and CNG dissipates upward because it’s lighter than air.
Natural gas reduces wear on engines and extends the time between oil changes.
NGVs can be refueled at home during the night for the 46 million homes that have natural gas (this benefit is significantly enhanced by our strategy to offer a low cost compressor).
Use of at-home natural gas is at regulated prices, insulating the consumer from short term spot market fluctuations (most utilities have long term supplies at locked in prices).
Many locations give NGVs preferential parking and HOV lane privileges.