US production of natural-gas vehicles is nothing new (Ford just announced a CNG F-150 today), it's not a huge market segment here. Nissan is banking on some pretty steady demand in Thailand, though, where the Japanese automaker is introducing a compressed natural g
Ford is toiling away, installing heavy-duty engine components into select 3.7-liter V6s to allow them to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in addition to gasoline. That's nothing new, but now, Ford has announced that it will offer the 2014 F-150 with this engine configuration, bringing the Blue Oval's total number of CNG/LPG-friendly vehicles up to eight. The
Highly intrigued, we recently visited a Southern California Gas Company office to check out several hybrid vehicles promising something new. Unlike more commonplace gasoline-electric hybrids, we were there to evaluate innovative gasoline-compressed natural gas (CNG) hybrids – yes, they run on unleaded gasoline and compressed natural gas. According to the experts on hand, this arrangement delivers extended range and reduced emissions while chipping in
Yo-Auto, the Mikhail Prokhorov-owned automaker that's been making plans to build the first Russia-made hybrid car, will scale down production of its Yo-Mobile to less than half of its previous goal when the car goes live in 2015, Ria Novosti reports, citing company executive Andrei Ginzburg. The company, part of Prokhorov's O
Back when it went on sale in 2008, the Tata Nano was heralded as something of a new Model T for developing economies. As the world's cheapest new car – and not by a little – the four-door Indian runabout was poised to usher in a new age of personal transportation to the world. But things didn't quite work out that way, and the discount rear-drive minicar has seen its sales fortunes undone by all manner of issues, from reports of f
When it comes to fleet vehicles, the Chevrolet Impala definitely plays an important role for General Motors, and it looks like GM is hard at work developing the next-gen Impala for bulk-buying businesses. The Motoring Journal recently spotted a handful of Impalas testing in Colorado with minor camouflage, but upon closer inspection, these appear to be test mules for a new
Fleets can save well over $150,000 in fuel costs over the six-year life of a truck.
Zap Jonway has added an alternative fuel vehicle to its lineup and describes it as a "New Energy Vehicle." That's a common term in China to describe a host of different powertrains, and is here used to mean a hybrid that combines compressed natural gas with a gasoline engine. Zap Jonway, based in Santa Rosa, CA, is working with its China-based Jonway Auto subsidiary to build the CNG version based on Jonway Auto's A380 SUV (electric version pi
Audi has been quite vocal about what it considers the benefits of the natural gas-burning A3 Sportback G-Tron and, more importantly, the company's synthetic methane (E-Gas) fuel project. On the one hand, it's a very cool idea to take CO2 that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and turn it into both hydrogen and synthetic natural gas (as Audi's E-Gas plant in Werlte, Germany Sebastian Blanco
By this time next year, the Audi A3 Sportback will be offered with a variety fuel-efficient powertrains ranging from diesel to the all-electric E-Tron, but perhaps the most interesting is the all-new G-Tron model, which uses Audi's innovative carbon-natural compressed natural gas called e
Audi is constructing a huge synthetic natural gas plant in Germany that demonstrates its commitment to renewable energy just as it provides some valuable R&D to help prove e-gas is economically and environmentally possible. The 44,000-square-foot plant is in Werlite, a small town in northwestern Germany near the North Sea, 217 miles north of company headquarters in Ingolstadt, near Munich.
We've reported before on the proliferation of natural-gas powered vehicles in the heavily oil-sanctioned state of Iran. Now we've got some further very dramatic circumstantial evidence that not all of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles are as safe as their Iranian owners would hope.
Driven by fleet and long-distance truck operators who want to save money in the face of climbing gasoline prices, global natural-gas truck sales will likely increase about 15 percent a year for the next six years, Pike Research predicts.
Utah, we have a problem. That's the conclusion of a report from the publication Nature saying that methane leaks from US natural gas fields may be anywhere from two to three times as large as previously estimated.
A report in the Financial Times says that in Iran in 2006 there were 1,500 dual-fuel cars – those that can run on gasoline and on natural gas. In only seven years that number has climbed to 2.95 million. To serve them, where there were once just 60 refilling stations there are now 2,500. The switch to the alternative fuel has well publicized causes, namely the oil and financial sanctions enacted against Iran due to its nuclear research programs.
Two Mercedes-Benz models, the ML 250 BlueTec 4Matic and the Mercedes-Benz B200 Natural Gas Drive, have been named the most eco-friendly cars in their class by the popular German auto magazine Auto Test, which awarded them the title "Winners in Green."
If you won't change the car, perhaps you can change the fuel. This is part of the alt-energy strategy that Volkswagen is employing as it works on electric vehicles. To wit, its project with Solazyme to make renewable diesel and also the Eco Up! vehicle.
General Motors, which over half a year ago announced an $11,000 price premium for pickup trucks that could run on both gasoline and compressed natural gas (CNG), has started producing those vehicles at its plant in Fort Wayne, IN. The option is now available to customers.
