Light-duty vehicles (such as the Honda Civic) generally cost $4,000 to $6,000 more than their gasoline-powered counterparts.  However, those incremental costs can be offset by State and Federal incentives.  The Honda GX, for example, costs about $5,700 more than a standard Honda Civic, however, it qualifies for a Federal Tax Credit of $4,000, so the incremental cost is about $1,700.  Several states also offer additional incentives such as rebates or tax credits (Nebraska & Iowa currently do not).  Also, the District is offering a $500 CNG vehicle rebate for a limited time.

That will depend on what you order and from whom.  O'Daniel Honda at 78th & Dodge currently stocks the Civic GX model which runs on CNG.  Other available vehicles, including light, medium and heavy duty, are listed here. View PDF.

The Metropolitan Utilities District is designing and building two public CNG stations in 2010. The stations will be located near 54th & "L" Street and 84th & Center Street and are expected to be operational in late 2010. The District is actively seeking partners for additional public access stations.

Typical "fast-fill" fuel stations, the kind used at public and large private stations, take about the same time as filling a gasoline vehicle, 3-5 minutes. Many of the fuel stations owned by individuals and smaller private fleets operate on a "time-fill" basis that varies according to the owner's needs but can take several hours to fill a vehicle or fleet of vehicles. The PHILL home fueling unit typically fuels overnight at a rate of just under ½ gallon per hour.

Compressed Natural Gas is sold in GGEs or gasoline gallon equivalents. A GGE has the same energy content (124,800 BTUs) as a gallon of gasoline. CNG is generally 15-40% &less than gasoline or diesel. The District's CNG rates are set on a monthly basis and are posted at www.livegreenthinkblue.com.

CNG cars get basically the same miles per GGE as gasoline-powered cars. The Honda GX gets 24 City, 36 Highway and 28 Combined miles per GGE which is the same mileage as the standard gasoline-powered Honda Civic.

The Civic GX has a standard 8.0 GGE fuel tank which gives it a range of 200-250 miles. Like other CNG vehicles, additional or larger tanks can be used to increase the range.

There are over 1,100 CNG fueling stations nationwide and more than half are available for public use. A complete list and map is available at: http://www.afdc.energy.gov.afdc/fuels/natural_gas.html. Nebraska and Iowa do not currently have any public access stations. Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming do. There are also well developed networks of public CNG stations in Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, and California as well as on the East Coast.

The home fueling appliance, "PHILL", is manufactured by FuelMaker Corporation (now Fuel Systems Solutions). It is available locally through A-1 United Heating and Air. Actual total cost will depend on the specific installation costs but can range from $6,000 to $8,000. A Federal Tax Credit of $2,000 is available to help offset this cost.

On average it will take approximately 4 hours to replenish the fuel consumed in 50 miles of driving (a normal daily commute) based on a vehicle consumption rate of 30 mpg. A completely empty tank in the Honda GX could take up to 18 hours to completely fill with a home fueling option

Exhaust emissions from a typical NGV are much lower than those from gasoline-powered vehicles. For example, the natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX is recognized by the U.S. EPA as the cleanest commercially available, internal-combustion vehicle on earth. The Civic GX is rated by the California Air Resources Board as meeting the very stringent AT-PZEV standard. In addition, dedicated NGVs produce little or no evaporative emissions during fueling and use. In gasoline vehicles, evaporative and fueling emissions account for at least 50 percent of a vehicle's total hydrocarbon emissions.

Typical dedicated NGV;s can reduce exhaust emissions of:
• Carbon monoxide (CO) by 70 percent
• Non-methane organic gas (NMOG) by 87 percent
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 87 percent
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) by almost 20 percent below those of gasoline vehicles.

Natural gas vehicles also produce far less urban emissions than diesel vehicles. For example, even when the stringent 2007 EPA heavy-duty engine emission standards become applicable, NGVs will be producing only one-sixth the NOx of comparable diesel engines.

The District currently has 62 CNG vehicles in it's fleet including service vans, crew trucks and Honda Civic GX's.  O'Daniel Honda recently became certified as a Honda GX dealer and has already sold their first GX to a residential customer.  Several local businesses and government agencies are currently considering adding CNG vehicles to their fleets.  There are over 8.4 million natural gas vehicles worldwide but only about 130,000 in the United States.

Dedicated vehicles run exclusively on clean-burning natural gas. Bi-fuel vehicles are able to switch between natural gas and gasoline. While Bi-fuel systems can help reduce concerns over the availability or proximity of fueling stations, fuel-efficiency and emissions benefits are lower in Bi-fuel models and they typically do not qualify for the same incentives as Dedicated vehicles

Over 25 different manufacturers produce 100 models of light, medium and heavy-duty natural gas vehicles and engines in the U.S. American Honda makes the Civic GX which is the only Dedicated CNG passenger vehicle available from an OEM. However, more high-quality, EPA certified conversion models are being introduced recently such as the CNG Chevy Impala from NaturalDrive and the CNG Ford Focus from Altech-Echo which comes in both a Dedicated CNG and a Bi-fuel (CNG or Gasoline) model and is available through some Ford dealerships. Other available vehicles are listed here View PDF. EPA certified conversions are available for most full-size Ford, Chevy and GMC pickups and vans as well as the Ford Crown Victoria and Expedition and the Lincoln Town Car and Navigator.

While after market conversions are being done by a variety of companies in some states and other countries, the District strongly recommends using only the EPA certified conversions listed on the NGVAmerica list View PDF.

This is the best way to insure that the components and installation meet all safety standards. These conversions tend to be more expensive than non-EPA certified conversions (around $6,000 to $10,000 for a passenger vehicle, more for medium and heavy duty vehicles) but only EPA certified conversions qualify for the federal incentives which can range from $2,500 to $32,000 depending on the size of the vehicle.