Honda to Extend 2006 Natural-Gas Civic Retail Sales to New York
13 April 2006
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| The 2006 Civic GX. |
Honda will extend retail sales of its all-new compressed natural gas (CNG) 2006 Civic GX to New York this fall.
Honda already markets the Civic GX to fleet operators with their own fueling stations, and has begun offering the Civic GX and the Phill home natural-gas refueling appliance to its customers at select dealers in California. The Civic GX is the only dedicated natural-gas-powered passenger vehicle available to retail customers in the United States.
Based on the 2006 Civic, the Civic GX achieves a city/highway EPA-rated fuel economy of 28/39 miles per gasoline-gallon equivalent (gge) and meets federal Tier 2-Bin 2 and ILEV zero-evaporative emission certification standards. The Civic GX is the only vehicle certified by the EPA to meet both of these emission standards.
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| 2006 Civic GX |
Equipped standard with a 5-speed automatic transmission, the 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder engine delivers 115 hp (86 kW) and 148 Nm of torque, both an increase of more than 10% versus the previous model.
Natural gas is approximately 25% less expensive than gasoline when purchased at a refueling station, and approximately 50% cheaper than gasoline when supplied by a home refueling appliance, according to Honda.
An overnight refill from Phill supports a GX driving range of about 250 miles.
In addition to convenient refueling, Civic GX owners are eligible for tax breaks and incentives of up to $4,000 for the car and up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of Phill. Both GX and Phill benefit from the federal tax credits enacted Jan 1, 2006, for clean alternative fuel vehicles and fueling infrastructure.
One thing that's generally overlooked about PHEV, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles is that there are people out there who don't have garages or even driveways. I can't imagine having natural gas lines snaking across the street and down half a block every night. That's just not safe.
Posted by: Icelander | 13 April 2006 at 10:20 AM
That's a limitation that can be addressed once a significant portion of the population that DO have driveways and garages have bought into the technology.
Aj
Posted by: Aj | 13 April 2006 at 10:39 AM
This car provides a practical way to cut GHG and lower fuel expense for those who can use it (commuters with houses in areas that are served by natural gas). Lack of fueling infrastructure means road trips are out--also, range is only ~200 miles, per Honda. This means you have to have another car, which limits the audience to those who can afford to own special-purpose autos. Nevertheless, I'd consider this if I moved back to the commuter rat race in CA.
Posted by: Nick | 13 April 2006 at 11:34 AM
It's not for everyone, but Natural Gas is a good shortt term technology and is probably teaching Honda a lot about how to handle gaseous fuels (i.e. H2).
Who knows, there are biogas projects that are capturing methan from garbage and animal waste. Wonder if this could ever be harnessed to run these cars. Anyone know the engineering around conversion to various gaseous fuels and what is required --- engine timing, storage, etc.?
Finally, if they could convert the engine to run on H2cost-effectively, it would be an excellent transition vehicle someday.
Good on Honda for pursuing the GX. Toyota gets more attention for their HSD hybrids, but Honda is doing some excellent yeomans work on the environmental vehicle front across all vehicle classes.
Posted by: Lance Funston | 13 April 2006 at 01:28 PM
OK, a natural gas-powered vehicle may not be for everyone. There are problems; i.e. infrastructure, range, etc. What I don't understand is why every alternative to the gasoline engine is expected to completely replace gasoline. I see a future where many different fuels and powertrains are on the market: gasoline, diesel, hybrids (gas, diesel, plug-in) natural gas, hydrogen, ethanol, whatever. Hybrids in the city, diesels for highway drivers, etc. Why not?
I really like this natural gas choice, myself. But, I have a garage and a natural gas line coming to the house and I do a lot of city driving.
Posted by: Mark | 13 April 2006 at 02:37 PM
I'm an authorized Phill Unit installer in Los Angeles, and the tax rebate for purchasing the device is actually $2000 down here and is given out by the Southern California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), dropping its retail price to $1500. Not too expensive, but then again,I have a bias.
Posted by: Nathaniel Cowden | 13 April 2006 at 07:05 PM
Here in Western Australia we have some of the biggest natural gas reserves in the world in our North West gas shelf including reserves that haven't been tapped yet. A lot of our cooking and heating are powered by Natural gas that is piped down here to Perth. Also half of the TransPerth bus fleet is powered by Natural gas. When the bus fleet replacement program is complete nearly all should be natural gas. Half the older buses are powered by Natural gas. When the fleet replacement program started in 1999 a small batch of Euro 2 Mercedes diesel buses were purchased with the bodywork being built in Perth. Then a more pro environment government won the 2000 election and the orders for the new buses were changed to Euro 2 natural gas then later Euro 4. It really feels good getting on one of the newer buses to work downtown in the morning and home in the afternoon knowing that it is powered by fuel that comes straight from my own state and is a more environmentally friendly alternative to the diesel that mostly comes from the middle east. Perth is also the only southern hemisphere city to be trialing the Mercedes citaro Hydrogen fuel cell buses along with several European cities. I have been on one of these buses.
I would like to see an Australian car manufacturer (Holden, Ford, Mitsubish, Toyota) offer a dual fuel petrol/Natural gas engine on one of there models with a home Phill system like Honda's for the Natural gas. It's disapointing that the alternative gaseous fuel in Australia is LPG. LPG comes from crude oil. I'd say it would be too late to setup Natural gas filling at petrol stations in Australia with LPG already there. The only problem I see with a Natural gas car would be the same as with LPG and that is a big loss of boot space. All the LPG cars I've seen have had the spare tyre moved to the boot so the LPG tanks can sit where the spare tyre used to sit. I've been on many trips outside of Perth to country Western Australia and you definetly need all the boot space available and a spare tyre especially if the car is full of people. The other problem would be that vast quantities and an increasing amount of our Natural gas are exported to other countries like China to fuel there booming economy. If Natural gas phill systems became popular it could drive the price up or cause shortages. And of course Natural gas is not a renewable fuel
Posted by: mango | 13 April 2006 at 08:06 PM
I had my 1980 Prelude converted to natural gas in the late 80s. The equipment came from Italy where the use was common. At the flick of a switch I could change from NG to gasoline! Very cool. I used it for a few years until they closed down all the stations. Sigh.
Home filling is the only practical way to go, as otherwise it took 5 or 6 minutes to fill up your tank at the station on a good day, and almost double that if two people tried to fill up at the same time! Also if the person before you dammaged the O ring on a cold day and it blew out while you were filling, well, lets just say you wouldn't want to have a heart condition.
Posted by: Kip | 14 April 2006 at 12:51 AM
I had my 1980 Prelude converted to natural gas in the late 80s. The equipment came from Italy where the use was common. At the flick of a switch I could change from NG to gasoline! Very cool. I used it for a few years until they closed down all the stations. Sigh.
Home filling is the only practical way to go, as otherwise it took 5 or 6 minutes to fill up your tank at the station on a good day, and almost double that if two people tried to fill up at the same time! Also if the person before you dammaged the O ring on a cold day and it blew out while you were filling, well, lets just say you wouldn't want to have a heart condition.
Posted by: Kip | 14 April 2006 at 01:23 AM
A range of 200 miles is excessive for a vehicle that is refueled nightly. I'd choose a 50 mile range straight electric over a CNG if it were available.
Posted by: tom deplume | 14 April 2006 at 08:37 AM
So you are in charge of what is excessive range now?
I think your 50 mile electric golf cart is excessive. I will take me legs thank you very much.
Posted by: James | 14 April 2006 at 01:11 PM
Great idea from Honda, even though the Civic mpg is only 28. Now, try this in the current Prius at 55 mpg combined. You can go twice as far (400 mi). Then, try this on the future 2008 Prius capable of 94 mpg. You will have reduction in fuel cost to an equivalent of under ~70 cents/gallon of gasoline equivalent in comparison with a typical 5-seater car at 27 mpg. At that efficiency level, biomass-derived methane by gasification process can provide a substantial portion of autos with fuel in the future, and this is renewable. Then, if not enough of methane will be available, try mixing methane with hydrogen derived from renewable sources, or Hythane (tm) in the future-equivalent of the Prius III, at above 90 mpg fuel efficiency. Voila, this may well be our transportation future, ultraclean, safe, convenient, and very affordable. OPEC can drink their own oil, if any will be leftover, by then.
Posted by: Roger Pham | 15 April 2006 at 11:54 AM
I think it would be more likly to see this and the Civic Hybrid combined before seeing it in a Prius as Honda uses both technologies.
Posted by: James | 15 April 2006 at 02:54 PM
My situation won't allow it (all electric house - no natural gas available as we have a municipal electric system where i live)- but this is a great thing! I especially like the idea of home-based fuelling. Saves money and may create an interesting situation in the future where service stations are fewer and more highway based!
Posted by: Brent | 18 April 2006 at 12:38 PM
I've been driving a GX for a little over 2 years and I love it.
I'm currently paying $1.48 per gge in Long Beach. If I have to use Clean Energy stations it costs $2.35 per gge. Last Month LB was $1.75 and CE was $2.25 so as you can see CE is really ripping of the consumer IMHO.
Over the last 2 years I seen the price of CNG go from $1.45 to $2.25 in LB. As you can guess the highest was back in Sept when the platforms in the Gulf were offline.
The only problem I have with the GX is trunk space and I don't think that's going to be any better with the new 2006.
Posted by: John | 25 April 2006 at 02:49 PM
Adoption of NG cars worldwide will help the worldwide gasoline consumption problem. As previous poster stated a wider range of fuels in niche-target vehicles would be wise.
Honda has earned my loyalty for many years, and will continue to do so with efforts like this!
Posted by: vapour | 27 April 2006 at 06:45 AM
LPG also comes from the natural gas production / refining process, so it's not entirely from oil refining, altho it does come from that too.
Posted by: Erick | 22 May 2006 at 04:53 PM
I have natural gas at my home and I am poised to install a "PHILL" unit in the garage and purchase a Civic GX. However, before learning about the PHILL just last week, I was poised to buy a Civic gasoline/electric hybrid. Now I'm thinking, why can't I get that Civic hybrid converted from gasoline to CNG? Does anybody know who could do that for me? If I could get a Honda Civic hybrid converted to run on CNG, I would then have a plug in, ultra clean, high fuel economy, low carbon dioxide, petrolum-free vehicle that could probably easily travel about 350 miles on a tank of CNG. A vehicle with all those attributes would be, in my view, a quantum leap over anything else available today in terms of re-fill convenience, pollutant emissions, and petroleum import requirements. So,where can I get a CNG conversion performed on that Civic Hybrid?
Posted by: jim lemon | 01 September 2006 at 03:26 PM
Dear Sir,
Iam Ahmed From Pakistan
We are looking for a reliable and high quality CNG conversion plant for Pakistan send your quotation of all type of CNG conversion plants
If your company give us the best quotation then we can be intrusted to bussines with you permanently
kindly give the rates of products mentioned below
1)CNG Kits
2)CNG cylinders(40,50,55)Liters
3)Emmulator Advancer
4)Switches
5)etc
Looking for your quick response.
Thanks
Ahmed
Posted by: Ahmed | 24 December 2006 at 09:05 PM