Price of CNG drops 25¢ per gge to $1.27

From Questar's NGV page.

Congress voted to continue a long-standing 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit for those who dispense natural gas for vehicles. As a result, Questar Gas has applied the credit to its 2010 investment to improve CNG stations. Beginning Dec. 23, however, the company split the credit – half is used to reduce the price of natural gas at the pump by 25 cents per gallon, and the other half will be designated for CNG-station improvements.

State Fueling Locations will accept Credit Cards ("In the near future").

Here is a cut/paste from an email we recently received regarding our State of Utah Gascard. It basically says that the Gascard system is designed more for fleet use and not for the general public so they are going to install new credit card readers at the state pumps.
We wonder when they will quit accepting applications for new cards.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

ALPINE S/D CONSOLIDATED- 490 North State Street, Lindon Utah
CANYONS SD #1 (formally Jordon SD) - 200 East 9300 South, Sandy Utah
GRANITE SD #2 PARKWAY - 3000 West Parkway Blvd. (2700 South)
U OF U MOTORPOOL - 425 So 1778 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY - 1400 North 900 East Logan, Utah

The State of Utah Gascard will now only work at the State owned sites!

In the near future the State of Utah will be installing new card readers at these sites, these new card readers will take credit cards only. We will be going away from the gascard system, as Fleetcor will stop allowing us to provide them to the public. They are not set up to handle the high volume of A/R and debt collection for these account.


Kathryn Anderson
Program Specialist I

CNG Fueling to expand nationwide with Pilot/FlyingJ/Clean Energy partnership

This announcement has more potential of expanding the CNG fueling infrastructure nationwide than anything we've heard of. "Targeted" locations of the 550 Pilot FlyingJ stations nationwide will be adding CNG/LNG fueling capability. This is driven in part by the announcement of CNG vans and trucks from major manufacturers. Hopefully it will bring CNG to the many areas of the country where the fueling infrastructure is nonexistent.

Here's a link to the Clean Energy news release:
http://www.cleanenergyfuels.com/2010/10-5-10.html

Two New CNG Stations in Utah

Great news! Two more CNG stations have recently opened in Utah.
On August 25th Western Petroleum at 1521 S 1500 E in Vernal started selling CNG.
This makes it easier to make a trip out to eastern Utah solely on CNG.

Today, Utah Clean Cities announced that Eagles Landing Scipio Chevron at 810 N 800 W in Scipio has started selling CNG. That will shorten the gap between Springville and Fillmore and take a little pressure off of the Fillmore and Richfield stations.

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

Utah Gas Prices Hitting $3 per Gallon

The Salt Lake Tribune had an article today talking about gas prices bumping up to $3 per gallon at some Utah stations. CNG Utah was mentioned in the article.

Link to Article

Article Text:
Utah gas prices inch near $3 a gallon
Economy » Higher prices restore natural gas's popularity.
By Lesley Mitchell
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/24/2010 08:47:24 AM MDT

Just in time for the summer driving season, Utah's gas prices are climbing toward $3 per gallon.
The average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline is $2.90, up from $2.73 one month ago and $1.80 one year ago, according to travel-services agency AAA. Utah's prices are 8 cents higher than the national average and the 10th highest among all states.
Gas prices typically increase in the spring and early summer as demand rises, leveling off sometime around Memorial Day or early June.
The good news is experts doubt Utah's prices will go anywhere near the record $4.22 per gallon set in July 2008.
The bad news is some stations in the Salt Lake area already are selling regular unleaded for $3 per gallon. (For a list of the stations with the highest and lowest gas prices, go to www.saltlakegasprices.com.)
And this summer, "the Salt Lake area could see a high of $3.20 to $3.35 per gallon for unleaded," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for price-comparison Web site GasBuddy.com.
Oil prices, another factor affecting pump prices, have remained largely constant at around $80 per barrel. But DeHaan said the upward trend in prices also can be tied to investors who are placing their bets on future increases in the price of oil as the economy improves.
Greg Whall, of Taylorsville, who drives a Chevrolet Suburban, said he has canceled a Memorial Day weekend road trip because of the recent price spike. He also has a travel trailer and a boat, which could remain parked most or all of the summer if there is no relief. "It's scary how high gas prices are now," he said.
At $3 gallon, car shoppers are once again looking into vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, said Kevin Frazier, co-owner of CNG Utah of Orem, which opened in 2007. CNG is selling for 93 cents per equivalent gallon.
Last year, when unleaded gasoline was $1.80 per gallon, demand for CNG vehicles plummeted. "People didn't see the need to lower their fuel costs," he said.
"But at $3 gallon, people are starting to think about it. It's definitely been a lot busier this year."
lesley@sltrib.com

Interview with Questar CEO

Here is a great article from The American Gas Asssociation. In it they interview Questar CEO Ron Jibson. He describes how the CNG fueling infrastructure in Utah has grown to meet demand for CNG and how Utah has become a leader in Natural Gas Vehicle use.

Read Article (.pdf)

New CNG Station at Ogden Flying J

Questar sent out a tweet this morning:

A new Flying J station in Ogden (1172 W 2100 S) is now selling CNG. Pumps are on both sides of station; 3,000 and 3,600 psi available.

If you drive a CNG car in Utah I would recommend that you follow Questar on twitter and have it forwarded to your cellphone.
http://twitter.com/QuestarGasCNG

Proposed Utah CNG Stations

Here is a map of the current and proposed CNG stations across Utah. It's nice to see that many of the current stations have planned upgrades in 2010. Some of them have already been completed as we mentioned here.

Click on the map for a larger view.

Natural Drive gets EPA Approval for Dedicated CNG GM 6.0L V8

Natural Drive recently received EPA approval for a dedicated CNG conversion of the 2010 GM 6.0 Liter V8 used in 3/4 and 1-ton Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks. These conversions qualify for the $8,000 federal tax credit and reduce emissions across the board.

Source: NGV Global

CNG Filters, Stickers and Dust Caps Now Available

As a service to the CNG community we are now offering CNG Coalescent Filters as well as CNG Stickers and Fuel Filler Dust Caps. All these items can be found on our inventory page at prices lower than you can expect elsewhere.

 

  

 

Utah Bill to Allow Easier CNG Conversions

HB70 will allow Utah residents to bypass EPA-approved CNG conversions. Utah State Division of Air Quality certified technicians would make sure that the conversions are installed safely and then re-certify the converted vehicle every three years or 36,000 miles.

A House committee approved the bill today.

An EPA approved conversion generally costs $14,000 or more. A non-EPA conversion can usually be done for around $6,000.

Email us at cngutah@gmail.com for a list of local conversion shops.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Waste Management investing in Biogas

Waste Management has forged an agreement with Harvest Power to expand its organics recycling facilities across the United States  and Canada. These operations will capture the gas released by organic wastes and convert it into, among other things, Compressed Natural Gas.

Methane gas released from decomposing organic waste is a huge polluter world-wide. By capturing this gas, not only is pollution is reduced, but the captured gas can be converted into electricity or compressed into CNG or LNG to power vehicles.

Waste Management Press Release

UPS adds 245 CNG Trucks to its fleet

UPS recently added 245 new CNG-powered delivery trucks to its fleet in California and Colorado. There are now over 1,100 UPS delivery trucks powered by CNG in service worldwide.
Source: Work Truck Online

Civic GX named "2010 Greenest Car in America"

CNN just named the CNG-powered Honda Civic GX "The Greenest Car in America." This comes as little surprise since the Civic GX is the only vehicle currently for sale in the US that comes from the factory running on compressed natural gas. The Civic GX has won awards for its cleanliness since the beginning.

CNN Article

Drive America on Natural Gas Act

Senator James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma speaks of the benefits of using Natural Gas as an alternative fuel and his Drive America on Natural Gas Act.

GM to begin producing CNG powered trucks (again)

According to USA Today, GM could begin producing CNG powered Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups as soon as 2012.

Chevrolet and GMC CNG-powered pickups were available until model year 2005, when production stopped. It will be great to have new factory-produced CNG pickups on the market again.

New 3600psi dispensers throughout Utah

Utah has received a grant to build new CNG stations and upgrade existing stations. New pumps and dispensers are being installed all over the state. Many of the new dispensers are made by Angi and have a 3000psi dispenser (blue) on one side and a 3600 psi dispenser (yellow) on the other. If your vehicle has 3600psi tanks be sure to use the 3600psi dispenser because you will get about 15% more fuel than the 3000psi dispenser will give you. 3600psi vehicles can use either dispenser, but a 3600psi dispenser will not attach to a vehicle with 3000psi tanks.

Welcome to our blog

There are so many interesting things going on in the CNG world. I wanted to start a blog so that we could share the progress the CNG is making in Utah and throughout the country and world.
Enjoy.
-Derek