A natural gas vehicle (NGV) is remarkably similar to a “conventional” gasoline or diesel vehicle. Internal combustion engines normally burn mixtures of gasoline or diesel and air, but can easily be modified to run on a mixture of natural gas and air.
Natural gas primarily consists of methane (around 90%), with small amounts of ethane, propane and other gases. Methane is a simple gas molecule made up of one atom of carbon and four of hydrogen (CH4). It is lighter than air and burns almost completely, with by-products of combustion being carbon dioxide and water.
A reciprocating internal combustion engine (like those in almost all today’s cars and trucks) can burn natural gas in place of gasoline or diesel. The mixture is normally ignited by a spark plug.
Natural gas is normally a gas, not a liquid. It is stored by being compressed to 3600 psi or liquefied at –260º F. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fuel containers weigh more and take up more space than gasoline or diesel containers.
Any sort of vehicle can use natural gas as a fuel. Vehicles can use only natural gas (dedicated) or run on either gasoline or natural gas (bi-fuel). There are about 130,000 natural gas vehicles in the US and about 5 million worldwide. About 25% of new transit buses are fueled by clean-burning natural gas. Taxicabs, garbage trucks, and school buses are often fueled with natural gas.
Pretty much like you fuel a car or truck. The fueling station and dispenser looks about the same as a “normal” station. The nozzle and receptacle are a bit different but an NGV is just as easy to fuel and fuels up in about the same amount of time.
Absolutely! In the US there has never been a motor vehicle fatality attributed to the natural gas fueling system.
There are about 1300 natural gas fueling facilities in the US, but that doesn’t mean natural gas is available on every corner. Click here (http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/infrastructure/refueling.html) for DOE’s Fueling station locator. Make sure you call ahead to be sure a station is open to the public. You can also put a home refueling device in your garage and refuel at home. More information.
Perhaps, but it will be 20 or 30 years, at least, before those vehicles are widely available. And there are lots of problems to be solved if hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are ever to become commercial. Natural gas vehicles operate on a fuel similar to hydrogen, so many have viewed NGVs as the “pathway to hydrogen”.
