UTA Testing CNG Buses

Utah Transit Authority is currently testing two CNG buses for use in Utah. The buses are on loan from Los Angeles and Phoenix and cost approximately $480,000 compared to $430,000 for a diesel or $630,000 for a hybrid bus.
Read the article at The Salt Lake Tribune

Landi Renzo Buys Baytech

The Italian CNG conversion company, Landi Renzo, recently purchased California's Baytech Corporation. Landi Renzo is a leader in CNG conversions in Europe and does both aftermarket and OEM conversions. Baytech has been an aftermarket leader in EPA and CARB certified conversions, mostly on commercial trucks and vans. Landi Renzo sees the US as a promising market for CNG conversions. Hopefully they continue to bring more great CNG products to market in the states.

Read the full article at NGV Global

Baker Shows Off Their Long Range CNG Van Conversion

Baker is showcasing their long range dedicated-CNG van conversion by taking a cross-country drive on CNG only. The van can hold 42gge (gasoline gallon equivalent) and has a 500+ mile range. They recently came through Utah and filled up at the SLC airport. You can follow their progress on the Baker X-Country CNG Van Demonstration Blog.

Chrysler may re-enter the domestic CNG market with rebadged Fiats.

The Fiat Panda has been a popular CNG vehicle in Europe, and it may be coming to the United States as a Chrysler. Last year Fiat sold 130,000 CNG powered vehicles in Europe, 60,000 of which were Pandas. ADAC (the German equivalent of AAA) deemed the Panda the Most Economical Car in Europe as it was able to go further than any other European car on €30 worth of fuel.
Sources: Detroit News, Autoevolution

New CNG Station in St. George

A new CNG station has opened in St. George, Utah.
The address is: 334 E Riverside Dr. St. George, UT 84790

The Utah Clean Cities Coalition will be hosting a grand opening in August, but the pump is already up and running. The new station has also been put onto CNGPrices.com.

There are now two CNG stations in St. George and another one just a few miles north at the Hurricane exit.
Leave a comment if you've had a chance to fill up there.

Federal 50¢ per gallon tax credit has expired.

A federal tax credit of 50¢ per gge (gasoline gallon equivalent) of natural gas has expired. Questar has been forced to raise the price of CNG 50¢ per gge to compensate. It's unfortunate, but at least CNG is still half the cost of gasoline. Now the fuel is unsubsidized, so we are paying the actual cost of the fuel, plus road taxes. 
 Read Questar's Remarks Here.
 You can follow a discussion of the rate increase on CNG Chat.

Slight Increase in Natural Gas Price

The price of CNG at the pump in Utah inched up slightly this week to 95.9¢ per GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent) . The Utah Public Service Commission granted a request by Questar to increase their profit by about 1% to 10.35%. According to this article in the Deseret News, the rate increase is unlikely to fluctuate for many years.

Source: Deseret News