GM to sell CNG vans

More marginal products to a small sector of the market.

Every sector of the market was small at one time CNG can be a good move in volume.

I dont think so.

My point is that a lot of people wont consider a van for transportation under any circumstances..

This will press most of this market to taxi use, delivery, etc. Will these companies pay several thousand dollars more, per vehicle, to get one that will burn CNG?

I doubt it, as long as gasoline is in the $3 range, and since the charging facilities for CNG are few and far between, if they exist at all in a given area.

Yes, there is a potential fuel savings to be expected from CNG, if that doesnt evaporate between now and the launch of such products.

99% of these will end up in state fleets or commercial fleets of companies that want the tax write-offs.

The local NYS fish hatchery has a CNG powered P/U that they use and the big fish delivery truck just had a $25,000 dollar exhaust installed on it to "keep the air clean"

Figures....It was not uncommon to use liquified propane around here, some years back. The conversion was dead simple, and the propane was cheap and easy to come by.

Compressed natural gas, I mention because some relate this in their minds to the propane systems of old, is a completely different tiger.

I think the Volt and this CNG van situation is more a publicity move than a serious undertaking.

Why do you believe it would it have a "$25,000 dollar exhaust installed," when CNG burns much clearer than gasoline??

You are kidding, right? True electric vehicles like the Volt are expected to capture nearly 10% of clean vehicle market in a few short years, that is far more than the 2% of the market currently of hybrid sales.

It isn't a CNG vehicle. It's a GM top kick diesel. BUT NY issued a directive to all state departments that an attempt had to be made to demonstrate clean air strategies. So they went through most of the departments (currently the DOT is not part of this but will be when they buy new vehicles) and started fitting a ton of crap to vehicles to "clean the air" ,this system is a retrofit unit that works a lot like the newer Ford units that run a converter and purge system. The average cost on them has been close to 30K EACH. On a truck that is worth maybe 15K!!!

The day I was visiting the crew was in the process of replacing one of the band clamps to the manifold. Got to look over the unit and it's control box.

It is a lot like the unit that is sold for retrofit onto fire equipment that Ward products sells. We were actually looking at them for a couple of our rigs until we priced them!

If you are looking for topnotch fire equipment look at what KME has to offer.

The Volt isn't a BEV it is a plug-in serial hybrid.

IMO the best alt. fuel option is liquid propane injection but it requires a booster or circulator pump to keep a solid column of liquid in the fuel rail as the underhood temps would otherwise just boil off the propane and cause a vapor lock.

I dont know the details of such a system. The old systems worked with duel fuel carburetors, IIRC.

Modern fuel injection systems work under considerable pressure anyway, provided by the fuel pump.

While propane burns clean, the economic advantages, if any, can evaporate quicker than the propane itself when the suppliers pump up the price and our goofy government taxes it to death.

We run a mixed lot. Two Alfs, an E-one, a 4-Guys and a Wheeled Coach that we run as a light rescue. Plus a Saulsbury unit that is currently leaking engine oil faster than the well in the Gulf. Didn't leak until the current repair guys touched it.

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Maybe the Obama administration has cut a deal to buy these vans for the government fleets. Maybe they can pull those old FEMA trailers with the. :>(

You are confused, the Volt and its five coming derivatives, including a pick-up are not hybrids, they are true electrics.

The only motive power, for the basic Volt chassis, are the two electric motors in the transmission. The on board engine, that could be engineered in the future to run on any of the available fuels, runs only the generator. It can not power the vehicle, as is the case with any hybrid

If one uses Propane to power a vehicle, they must still pay the federal and state road use taxes, if the vehicle is operated on the public highways.

KME makes only custom made premium rigs. Our four volunteer companies are all now buying only KME units. L.A. is currently KME's biggest customer