Yep. 9.5 miles from my home CNG (compressed natural gas) is selling for $1.86 per equivalent gallon compared to $3.16 for gasoline without vegetables.
Oklahoma has 79 public CNG refueling stations with 46 states totaling 1,211 stations.
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Oklahoma have announced plans to convert their state vehicle fleets to CNG. The collective goal is to purchase 5,000 CNG vehicles a year.
The United States has an abundance of natural gas but we have a chicken or the egg problem. We need stations to fuel the vehicles and we need vehicles to justify the stations.
I could only find one 2012 CNG passenger vehicle (a version of the Honda Civic) although it appears that GM is offering CNG fueled commercial cargo vans. The states that are converting coupled with some private sector fleet conversions are adding to the demand for fueling stations. (Oklahoma has more than doubled CNG fueling stations during the last year.) Most of the auto manufacturers are offering CNG conversion kits and we should see a few more models in 2013.
There are federal tax credits available to subsidize the vehicle conversions and installation of CNG pumps. These credits may influence the private sector but have no impact on state decisions as they don’t have a federal tax liability. There was a 50 cent a gallon subsidy built into the price but it recently expired and is not reflected in the $1.86 price per equivalent gallon.
Wind and solar power are environmentally friendly but it’s unlikely we’ll have cars with roof mounted windmills or solar panels unless a government bureaucrat thinks it’s a good idea. Electric cars are very clean but they have the weaknesses of lengthly charging times and limited driving range. Hybrids resolve the weaknesses of pure electrics but they are also burning oil derived gasoline.
We have more than enough natural gas to replace all of the gasoline and diesel used in this country. Were we to substantially convert to CNG vehicles we would not need to import oil from our enemies and we could stop invading countries to defend the OPEC pipeline.