on April 29, 2011M at 7:01 pm
My ride down easy street is over.
After almost two weeks behind the wheel of a compressed natural gas-powered Chevrolet Tahoe for my own personal alternative fuel test, I had to give it up Friday afternoon.
It was almost like being dumped, watching that big red SUV head down the street with someone else at the wheel.
At least I’ll always have the memories. And a little more money in my wallet. CNG has been touted as a cheaper, cleaner alternative to gasoline. I can certainly vouch for the former argument.
I spent just under $70 over the past 12 days on CNG while driving 752 miles in my borrowed Tahoe.
I spent about half that that Friday afternoon on gasoline so I could send the bi-fuel Tahoe back to Carter Chevrolet and OEM Systems in Okarche with a full tank. It only needed about a quarter of a tank at $3.79 a gallon.
That makes it clear that it is cheaper to use CNG as a vehicle fuel rather than gasoline, which averaged $3.756 a gallon in Oklahoma on Friday.
CNG sells for as little as 88 cents a gallon of gasoline equivalent.
Some skeptics have complained there are not enough places to buy CNG, but I didn’t find that to be true during my test drive. The first seven times I filled up (something that has to happen a lot more in an SUV with a 9-gallon fuel tank) I ended up at seven different places.
The most I paid during one of those stops was only $9.58. That’s hard to beat.
The question each of us must answer when considering whether to switch to CNG is whether it makes financial sense.
It costs more to buy a CNG vehicle or have one converted, but available tax credits can team with fuel savings to make it more affordable.
Currently there is no federal tax credit for natural gas vehicles, but pending legislation could change that.
The rest of the added cost to switch to CNG likely could be made up rather quickly in reduced fuel costs.
I’m not quite ready to buy a new car yet, but rest assured CNG will be part of the equation when I am.
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Thanks for helping get the word out about how much cheaper it is to drive with CNG. I’ve been running my own CNG experiment with the Honda Civic GX – you can check out my experience on the blog. When I purchased it in late 2009, it was cheaper than the gasoline version after the state and federal tax credits. We are trying to replace my wife’s Honda Pilot now with a bifuel SUV, but it’s hard to get sellers to talk to us. We may just give it up and buy another Civic.