Toyota Launches New CNG Vehicle
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Toyota is expected to announce today that it will be reexamining an alternative fuel technology which it had previously dropped: compressed natural gas.
Currently, only Honda manufactures a CNG-powered car; the company plans to produce double the number of these CNG Civics for the American market next year as it has produced in 2008.
Toyota plans to show off a pre-production version of a hybrid CNG-electric Camry in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Toyota has not as yet committed to production, but the new vehicle is timed perfectly to meet with an increased interest in CNG-powered cars.
“With this concept, we are confirming our interest in pursuing CNG,” says Irv Miller, a vice president for the U.S. arm of Toyota Motor Sales. Miller touts CNG’s lower cost, higher availability and lower emissions as compared to gasoline. A Toyota-sponsored press conference here advanced the argument that natural gas is much less scare than are oil reserves, warranting a second look at CNG as an automotive fuel.
Toyota is “testing the waters,” says John O’Dell, senior editor for Edmunds Green Car Advisor. “They want to be ready” if CNG seems set to make a comeback.
Toyota’s announcement comes as natural gas is being promoted as an important energy source. T. Boone Pickens, the Texas energy tycoon has promoted natural gas and wind power as the central elements of his “Pickens plan” for U.S. energy independence. One of the U.S.’s largest natural gas producers, Chesapeake Energy, has been using advertisements to promote CNG as an alternative fuel.
Toyota’s new focus on CNG “demonstrates there is a great deal of attention at progressive auto manufacturers who are looking at the opportunity to use a clean, abundant, affordable, American fuel,” says Chesapeake Energy Senior Vice President Tom Price.
Almost ten years ago, there were several auto manufacturers offering CNG powered cars; however, when public interest waned, these models were quietly withdrawn from the market. CNG vehicles historically have had the disadvantages of having less trunk space than gasoline powered cars due to the larger fuel tanks required and less mileage per tank of fuel.
There is also the disadvantage that there are a mere 1,000 CNG fuel stations in the world, only half of which are available to average consumers, making it difficult to refuel a CNG vehicle.
However, climbing gasoline prices have sparked enough interest among the public that Honda says there is a months-long waiting list for the CNG-powered Civic. The company plans to produce 2,000 CNG-powered Civics next year. The CNG-powered Civic GX will be priced at $25,090, about $7,000 more than gasoline powered models.
The GX is only being sold directly to consumers in the states of California and New York at present – as gas prices have risen, so has demand, says Honda spokesman Chris Martin.
Martin continues by stating Honda’s support for CNG-powered vehicles from other manufacturers: “We think it helps acceptance” of natural gas as an automotive fuel to have models available from many different makers.
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