2010 and up CNG conversions

[dz2a8r]

Just curious as to how many people are showing interest in converting their rides over to cng. I have actually began to convert vehicles at work, and have had excellent work out of the conversions. Same or in some cases better fuel economy and performance. We are converting 2010 and up gm gasoline trucks, yukons, tahoes, suburbans. The initial cost is high but the return on investment is instant. Just looking for opinions and trying to see how much interest there actually is

 

[soulsea]

Out of curiosity ...

1. Do most people have to buy a cng home pump?
2. Do you replace/cover all the elements of the GM powertrain warranty that this conversion will instantly negate?
3. What is the benefit and how does one recover their conversion costs?
4. How much ballparkish?

Interesting stuff though.

 

[felixgun]

Why is it only 2010 and up and not 07-09?

 

[dz2a8r]

Out of curiosity ...

1. Do most people have to buy a cng home pump?
2. Do you replace/cover all the elements of the GM powertrain warranty that this conversion will instantly negate?
3. What is the benefit and how does one recover their conversion costs?
4. How much ballparkish?

Interesting stuff though.

Dependong on where you live you may need to buy a slow fill for your house. Wisconsin is starting a big initiative and installed fill stations, oklahoma has approx 50+ throughout the state, Arkansas a 2 fill stations open to the public and planning on adding more. My understanding is that some of many of the larger travel stations are starting a big initiative to install fill stations. And you can check with your local natural gas company to see if they have a fill station, if so you can usually buy fuel from them without having to pay road tax 70-80 cents a gge (gasoline gallon equivalent)
Warranty on the vehicle is still full intact.
The major benefit is the lower cost of fuel, 70-80 cents a gge if you can get it at your local gas company and usually 1.40-1.70 if its at a public fill station, we have seen sustomers come in at 7500-10000 miles between oil changes and the oil still looks fairly new. The engines are said to still look new internally after 70k+ miles. its an extremely clean burning fuel. I failed to mention the systems were installing are bi-fuel, you can still fill your regular petrol tank. They switch from gasoline to cng after getting up to temperature, and back to gasoline if you run low on cng. no stumbling, or performance loss during the switch, if it wasnt for the indicator light youd never know it switches.
The benefits really show up if you put alot of miles on a vehicle before getting rid of it.


The conversion runs approx 10-12k

To my knowledge 2010 and up are the only ones we can get certified kits for.

 

[THE YETI]

our city did that about 10-15 years ago with city vehicles. Biggest mistake ever. They were converted back to gasoline about 6-7 years ago.

The savings was not THAT great. Fuel economy sucked. We had to fill them up atleast twice a day. Such a hassle.

 

[dz2a8r]

On the suvs it is a bit of a pain due to the limited space for the tanks. This would cause you to have to fill your cng tanks more often, but on the trucks were installing a gge equivalent 21 gallon tank. And as far as the fuel economy goes, i dont know what the problem was with their vehicles or kits, but if done right you get the same or better fuel mileage and performance

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 AM ----------

http://www.oemsystems.net/index.php?pr=CNG-Conversions

 

[THE YETI]

we had the entire police fleet of Crown Vics (over 100 vehicles) done and most of the public works vehicles. They spent more time getting repaired and refueled then being productive. The costs weren't there either, not enough to justify the savings anyhow. Maybe technology has changed since, but I don't foresee this as being a "new trend."

 

[soulsea]

Ol' T Boone Pickens has been pimping this tech for the trucking industry for years and years. When the truckers find it a viable alternative en masse, then it's something that will receive more serious consideration. I tend to trust folks who depend on a technology to feed their families.

That said, I think the are valid reasons to develop this tech further sine the fuel source is plentiful in the US. Brazil took advantage of its sugarcane surplus and pretty much every car there runs on bio-ethanol ... rainforest be damned.

Meh, I'm going to guess GM sells 1 full size hybrid suv for every hundred non hybrids, and the tahoe hybrid has no cost premium on the LTZ ... so the appetite for fuel efficiency in this market segment simply isn't there.

Now I'm sure when gas hits $8-10 a gallon all this will be reconsidered.

 

[Sheriff]

The conversion runs approx $10,000 to $12,000.

$12,000 will buy me 4,000 gallons of gas at the current prices in my area.

This 4,000 gallons will carry me 60,000 miles.

The price of the conversion is why CNG will never catch on in the USA until it's a last alternative to other fuel sources.

By the time gas hits $8 to $10 a gallon, the conversion kit will be $25,000 as well.

CNG just isn't cost efficient because of the upfront conversion costs. The only people who have afforded it so far is cities and counties. But of course they don't care because the taxpayer is footing the bill.

 

[StevenFromTexas]

What would the extra cost be if CNG vehicles were mass-produced at the factory?

Here's a website I have bookmarked on my computer: http://www.cngnow.com/

I better go look at the website, since I haven't checked it out in a long, long time.