On Wed, 30 May 2012 14:32:52 -0600, Just Wondering
wrote:

On 5/30/2012 5:55 AM, Leon wrote:
On 5/30/2012 2:35 AM, Just Wondering wrote:
On 5/30/2012 12:45 AM, Lew Hodgett wrote:
wrote:

Waterloo regional transit had a fleet of natural gas busses, and the
maintenance costs totally killed the project.
The converted diesel engines were failing at a very high rate. Don't
know if it ws due to lubrication issues, valve issues, or what - but
the engines were apparently good for about 1/4 the normal life of a
diesel. The cyl heads are heavily modified and they need spark
ignition - all of which could have been involved in the failures.
And
the intitial conversion price is gawdawfull too!!!
---------------------------------
Can't imagine how a natural gas conversion from diesel could be cost
effective.

L/A chose a different approach.

When it came time to rebuild and/or retire a diesel, it was replaced
with a natural gas engine.

Just one of the reasons it took over 10 years to accomplish.


You can't simply extrapolate that experience to the entire nationwide
fleet of private vehicles. For one thing, the infrastructure to
distribute fuel on such a massive scale simply doesn't exist.

Well perhaps it is more readily available that you might think. Add a
pump to many homes and you have your source. Granted the pump would
be an initial costly expense but I suspect that improved fuel economy
would eventually pay for that expense.

That would work only if the demand was miniscule. If you created a
massive increase in demand, the cost of NG would inevitably rise,
eliminating any "improved fuel economy".
When it comes to actual "fuel economy" not considering price, there
IS no advantage. distance per liter is poorer than propane.