Converting Prius to Natural Gas

Here's a good article on the CNG conversion situation from Popular Mechanics.
How to Convert Your Car to Natural Gas - CNG Conversion - Popular Mechanics

I had given some thought to converting my Dodge Caravan, but that was a while ago (probably before this 2012 article...so this article helps...is exactly what I was thinking)

 

IDK, Korean maybe

 

CNG Prius spotted in Pakistan.

 

what is it Usman a gas cylinder in there?

 

Yes. It's a huge lpg gas cylinder. You can see the metal straps/banding at each end. Ruins luggage capacity, you can't fold the seats down and looks like it's bolted above the HV battery.

Wouldn't pass safety here like that. The tanks used in Europe are generally the circular ones that fit inside the spare wheel well, though are smaller capacity. The big ones like in the picture are usually used on commercial vehicles or bolted in the back of an old Land Rover. I'd be curious how it's been installed and bolted down. You wouldn't want that coming loose in a crash!

 

Yes I've seen the nifty ones in EU that's of course for LPG, but I think the tire shape also works for CNG.
Believe Usman is saying CNG.

 

Sure it's not lost in translation? CNG in a Prius? Nah?

 

In the video there are two tanks shown possibly to demonstrate the different conversions. The long tank behind the rear seats is for CNG. The other tank shown is in the spare wheel well and that is for LPG (propane). The LPG conversion is readily available in the UK for the Prius as it is throughout Europe.
I am not so sure about the CNG conversion as this generally requires a home filling system (compressor) as the availability of CNG is poor or non existent. LPG is readily available. Home filling systems are problematic in that you need a space on your own property to fill the CNG tank, and regulations are strict with high rates of insurance on the filling system.
The system is designed to be switchable between petrol or LPG on the move. LPG is currently 60 pence a ltr while petrol has come down in price to about 105 pence per ltr.
I have driven a Prius converted to LPG and the difference when switching fuels was generally unnoticeable, but because of it's lower calorific value LPG miles per ltr is down on that of petrol.

John (Britprius)

 

Hi Guys,

Its not LPG cylinder, Its 55KG CNG (Natural Gas) cylinder. CNG is very common in Pakistan and you can find CNG station at every few kilometers. It costs around $600 to convert Prius or any EFI car to CNG here from approved centre. Although most people dont opt for CNG in prius as its already very much a Green Car and per Litre mileage is very good. For more details you can follow this thread.

Cng in prius.... :-D - 244695

 

I've stumbled across a video where the guy did this to his car and was saying how much cheaper it is. Ever since, i been interested to find more information about it.

I know in Europe about like a quarter of the vehicles are compressed natural gas converted, because their gas prices translated to US prices is about $6/gal.
But the U.S., the only vehicles I know running on compressed gas are the forklifts at work.

Hypothetically, if i were to do this, where besides at home could i fill up fast? Because at home itll take 22 hours on a psi rating of .5 to be compressed and converted to a psi of 3000 inside the tank. Plus the electrical cost of the compressor. Is there stores where i can just swap cannisters?

From a cost perspective, this is better than both gas and electricity. But from a convenience, if i went on long roadtrips, i need to be able to easily find fuel if im stranded in the middle of nowhere, where i wouldnt be capable of doing with CNG.

Thoughts?

 

it's a loser in the u.s., like hydrogen. if you're going to go rogue, you're going to go alone

10368

 

I feel like hydrogen has potential of what EVs dont, and thats storage and compatibility of ICE. If we electrolysis our water supply at home, we can produce our own hydrogen and fill from home similar to natural gas. But idk if its worth the cost of electricity to convert, maybe its cheaper than CNG? Electricity is something we can harvest in our own backyard and free, just hard to store. Thats the only benefit i see from it. Both big losers until we see a breakthrough in a fuel source that can be DIY, plentiful, convenient, and long range per storage.

 

the problems with hydrogen is the conversion process, and the cost of filling stations.

ev's have made tremendous strides in 10 years or so. no reason to think they will not continue to do so.

more renewables, better batteries, more efficient motors, less rare earths, better recycling methods, less pollution, lower production costs, more charging stations, it's getting better everyday.
the timing is nearly perfect as ev's slowly replace gasoline. no need for overnight adoption.
i don't see that with any other energy sources

 

Electrolysis is currently very inefficient, so the electricity is costly. Battery storage in EVs is considerably more energy efficient.

 

Problem is the batteries, long charging, and price being barely lower than gas. Yet battery cost makes up 90% of vehicle cost which negates any fuel saving for at least a decade compared to ICE. The irony, natural gas car gets better cost fuel per mile than driving an EV. That could change if the fuel ran out, but we depend on it so much for our electrical grid so in a way, EVs are tied to gas.

I dont think EVs is the way. I think electricity is, but not stored in batteries. I think if we used electricity as a resource to transfer the energy in another medium which is lighter and less costly or fragile as lithium is, then that would be the way to go. As of now, it still takes a ton of electricity to get an acceptable range car. Hydrogen is a good medium in my opinion. Steam as well. Converting does carry energy losses though, but so does storing inside batteries. The challenge is how can we harvest as much of the suns energy in a very compact space and store it for later use.

 

Id agree. I know an electric motor just has less moving parts creating friction compared to an ICE. But as far as electrons being stored in batteries go, im very skeptical if we passed even lets say, 30% for electrons being stored in our current design of lithium batteries. How much of it actually gets stored and how much is wasted?

 

I'm seeing RTEs (round trip efficiency) figures vastly higher than that.

 

the grid will eventually see more and more renewable supply. the government (for now) is focused on climate change, not on the lowest cost transportation possible. that was their focus for the last hundred years.
lithium batteries are the current tech, but they won't always be.

 

Yea the problem with the government is people making laws on stuff they dont understand how it works.

Also the lowest cost of transportation sells more than climate change. I know government doesnt care about it, but car manufacturers do because they are selling the damn product. And they have to deal with nonsense laws to jump more impossible standards. The only good is we get better mpg out of it. I think we need to get rid of these environmental agencies trying to be a branch of government.

 

that's the free market. there really isn't any such thing anymore because the robber barrons ruined it for everyone.
it's a nice idea, but doesn't work well in real life. if the mfg's had there way, we'd still be driving high polluting, low safety vehicles