It’s
interesting to speculate about why solutions that would have actually worked –
which did work – seem to
always just kind of . . . go away.
Not the
fabled 100 MPG carburetor. That probably never existed.
But how
about cars powered by compressed natural gas (CNG)?
They did exist. And – much more interesting – they worked.
Several
car companies – including GM and Ford – offered them, briefly,
back in the late 1990s. Including CNG-powered versions of their full-size sedans (the Impala and Crown Victoria, respectively) with
room for six and a V8 engine under the hood.
Beats
hell out of a four cylinder hybrid.
And
not just 0-60.
These
CNG-powered cars didn’t cost a fortune – which made their economics much more
sensible than most hybrids (and all electric cars).
They didn’t
have functional gimps, either – and thus, were practical. Most could operate on either CNG or
gasoline, so no worries about running out of CNG (as opposed to battery charge)
and being stuck.
No range anxiety. No hours-long
waits to refuel.
Even the infrastructure to
provide for CNG refueling is already largely
in place in most urban and suburban areas, because natural gas lines are
already in place. If your home has a gas furnace or gas appliances you could
also refuel a CNG-powered vehicle at home – and in minutes, not hours.
Massive
government subsidies are not required. Not for the vehicles, not for the
infrastructure/refueling facilities. As opposed to what would be absolutely
necessary in order to make electric cars as mass-production vehicles
functionally viable and leaving aside all the other considerations. Billions would have
to be mulcted from taxpayers to erect a vast network of high-voltage “fast”
chargers along the highways and secondary roads in order to keep hundreds of
thousands – potentially, millions –
of electric cars ambulatory.
And
even if that were done, the Wait Issue remains.
Imagine
it: Millions of people stuck for at least 30-40 minutes (best case scenario) to
recharge their electric cars. The country – the economy – would literally come
to a halt.
And – the really big one –
CNG-powered vehicles run clean.
Much cleaner than today’s
already very clean-running cars – because of the clean-burning nature of CNG.
They may even run cleaner, in the aggregate,
than so-called “zero emissions” electric cars – which may not emit emissions at
their nonexistent tailpipes but the utility plants that burn oil and coal to
produce the electricity that powers them most certainly do produce lots of emissions.
The
fact that this is almost never brought up by the media doesn’t mean it’s not
true.
One must also take into account
the emissions generated during the very labor (and machine) intensive process
of earth-rape necessary to manufacture electric cars and to obtain and process
the raw materials used to make them and which are not needed to make
CNG-powered cars.
Which are just like other cars,
no hundreds of pounds of toxic batteries on board.
CNG-powered
vehicles not only run cleaner, they run longer without needing things like oil
changes. Service intervals can be increased by several thousand miles because
burning CNG is clean; fewer contaminants are produced, so the oil doesn’t need
to be replaced with fresh as often.
That’s
good for the Earth, too.
CNG
is also a fuel that exists in vast, almost unfathomable oceans underneath
the United States – as opposed to under the control of Middle Eastern sheiks.
And which doesn’t have to be refined from a precursor substance, such as
petroleum.
CNG is
therefore inexpensive.
It is
estimated that there is enough natural gas in the United States alone to last
for the next several hundred years, at least. Probably longer, because current
estimates do not take into account the likelihood that additional vast
oceans of natural gas will probably be found, to double or triple the currently
known reserves.
An
interesting thing to consider:
If
say a third of the vehicles in circulation were CNG-powered, it would reduce
the national demand for oil by an equivalent amount, with the likely effect
that gasoline would become even cheaper than it already is (about $2.20 a
gallon as of late June). That would make electric cars even more economically
absurd than they already are.
It
would also do exactly what the chorus singing constantly the virtues of
electric cars and hybrid cars warbles about: It would greatly reduce the
country’s “dependence” on foreign oil.
Reserves
would not be sucked down the national gullet so hungrily. There would be more gasoline – and
for longer and for cheaper.
You’d
think there’d be a clamor . . .
Almost
any existing vehicle – including full-size trucks and SUVs –
can be modified to run on CNG. The existing engine (and transmission) can be
used. No re-engineering is necessary. No elaborate, expensive technology is
necessary.
No
diminishment of capability is involved.
All
that is necessary is modifying the
vehicle’s fuel delivery system to accommodate the CNG and reprogramming its ECU
– the computer that controls the fuel system – for CNG operation.
No big –
or expensive – deal.
The
biggest thing – and it’s a small thing, really – is the CNG tanks. These are
similar in look and size to SCUBA tanks and while they do take up a lot of
space (usually, trunk-space) that can be counterbalanced by the simple
expedient of making the trunk – or the vehicle – larger.
Mark
that. Size, weight. Capacity, capability and performance. None of these
things have to be sacrificed or even compromised
CNG is
perfectly adaptable to large, powerful and capable vehicles. Full-size sedans
and truck and big SUVs with big V8s.
And that
is very interesting,
indeed.
It may
explain what happened to CNG-powered vehicles.
They worked too well. Were
too practical,
too efficient.
They
opened up a way for the average person to continue driving large, powerful and
capable vehicles. Cars like the six-passenger/full-size Ford Crown Vic and
Chevy Impala (old model, rear-wheel-drive and powered by V8, unlike the
current model, which is front-wheel-drive and comes standard with a four
cylinder) and – potentially – large SUVs and trucks, also with V8s.
And
at a reasonable price – less than the cost of a hybrid and far less than the
cost of an electric car.
It
could have changed everything – and for the better.
Instead,
the cartel force-feeds us hybrids and electrics that make little if any
economic sense. But which do make sense from a different perspective. Of course, that
perspective isn’t our perspective.
Once
you adjust perspective,
it all makes sense.
And
becomes very interesting, indeed.
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