Have you ever come across a CNG station around town and wondered why in the world gas is so much cheaper there? I remember thinking I’d come across the greatest discovery in the world, only to realize that my car could actually take natural gas.
It turns out only certain cars can take CNG, which is found deep underground in rock formations.
Natural gas is formed when layers of buried plants, gases, and animals are exposed to intense heat and pressure over thousands of years, meaning we cannot replenish the earth’s natural gas resources in our lifetime. Pretty crazy, right?
Still, you might be wondering why that makes CNG cheaper. Well, unlike petrol (the gas most of us use in our cars), CNG is only sourced within the United States. That means we aren’t paying to the price it costs to ship the gas overseas. CNG is also in much lower demand than petrol, meaning that companies can’t afford to raise the price. Finally, new technology allows for that gas to be extracted from rock much more efficiently in our country, lowering the price even more.
Does learning about CNG make you want a car that runs on natural gas? Well, before you go running for a new car, you should know that most states don’t have a bounty of CNG stations for filling up your car. That makes long road trips risky! Also, Honda is the only automaker producing a light-duty, factory-produced CNG vehicle — the Honda Civic Natural Gas. Honda is selling out of this model faster than it can make them!
But CNG-run cars are on the rise, especially in California, New York and Utah. So perhaps, like autonomous vehicles, this is another trend to look out for in the future!
What do you think about CNG vehicles? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!
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