texas94z

Sources are saying that the next gen GM trucks are receiving a natural gas option. If thats true, GM, with the guidance of Obama Co, is forcing energy revolution for America.

Natural gas emissions are cleaner than gasoline emissions. The United States and Russia holds the largest deposits, roughly 40% of the world's supply. So why wouldn't we use it if its already here to use???

GM and Obama's goal is to end our dependence on non-domestic energy. The Volt is a clear indicator of that movement. However, battery technology is expensive and still under developed, and we still burn coal to produce energy to charge those batteries. Nuclear power is still decades away to charge batteries. So natural gas is short term answer to America's economic and emission problems.

America needs trucks. America's economy depends on trucks to survive. Powerful trucks will not meet the standards of the new emission laws. Cars will but not trucks. Natural gas must be the only option for trucks.

There is still no solid natural gas infrastructure. Where are you going to fill up? Im guessing GM dealerships. The future of dealerships are going to change drastically. Every dealership in the future will be a energy station. You roll in get your oil changed and refill your natural gas bottle. But the most important question is how long will the bottle last? I hope not 200 miles. For natural gas to be successful, you need a huge, highly pressurized bottle thats going to last at minimum of 1000 miles.

Gasoline is going to be dead. Gasoline is only going to used by developing countries. America is the world leader of energy. We guide the rest of the world. Nuclear energy is the end all result, but we have a long way to go. Until then, natural gas is good option for trucks. Long live the V8!

I'm just purely speculating and thinking out of my ***. I had my adhd moment of the day lol. BTW i'd invest in GM.

ysb02

Lots / most Texas state vehicles run on propane already.

Every president for the last 30+ yrs has talked about energy independence, no one really has taken steps to do it.

Propane / natural gas means those car explosions you see in movies will now happen in real life

redz_02

iTrader: (4)

Look up lithium phosphate batteries. About to be the next hybrid power source. Valence is based out of austin adn are pretty much the king of this newer tech.

Head Hunter

iTrader: (14)

I don't keep up with it much, but why would people go Natural Gas when they can just go Biodiesel?

lo_jack

iTrader: (27)

The problems with CNG are high pressure refueling and lower mpg than gasoline or diesel, which would mean big tanks of it in cars.

Make no mistake, this is not because of Obama. But if he were smart, he'd get that cap and trade thing done AFTER GM has a CNG solution that it can roll out. CNG loses on MPG/CAFE, but wins on NOx, SOx, and C02. They won't do that when they have wagered so heavily on Volt. Then again, Volt wins on cap and trade anyhow. But I think you could capture more market with CNG than hybrids, especially anything over passenger vehicle size because it can be cheap and it is pretty low tech compared to hybrid/PIG.

Gasoline is not dead. You cannot replace a sizable percentage of the 200+ million cars we have fast enough to kill gasoline even if you had an immediately deployable, mass producible solution available yesterday.

Biodiesel is hard to make in volume cheaper than natural gas. The algae people are having problems with that.

John98LS1

iTrader: (6)

we need to get more into diesel tech guys. look at the v-10 diesel Audi lemans race car. we can lower emissions up to 30% and get huge increases of MPG. All the other stuff is great but also needs waaaaaay more development. Diesel is here now and its ready to make change in TODAY'S world.

Domsz06

iTrader: (2)

problem with Diesel is the refineries are not designed to handle if we all switched to diesel. Our refineries are disigned to produce gas, if there was a huge surge to diesel powered cars there would be shortages of diesel and that would mean riots

John98LS1

iTrader: (6)

your right we would need to increase refinement. but all the other options need work in that area also.

diesel is here and its ready to make a noticeable change in TODAY'S world. don't stop thinking for the future but make a change that effects today so there can be a future.

texas94z

Its very hard to predict the future energy source for automobiles. So many companies are investing in all sorts of tech, solar power to diesel engines. Will one dominate like gasoline?

The overall goal should end our dependence of foreign energy. Any technology that helps that cause is a huge step forward. America has all the resources to achieve that goal.

Gipraw

iTrader: (10)

and none of the required leadership or vision.

texas94z

I have a big vision for the future.

Randy_S

iTrader: (1)

You find natural gas in the same wells that now pump oil. Trouble is that mos gets burned off currently as there are not many pipelines out to pump the gas onshore. It wouldn't bring an end to drilling, but it would decrease the need to pump as much oil if we could just capture the gases out of the wells.

dan03mach

iTrader: (1)

CNG sucks I work at DFW airport and all of our co. trucks run on CNG "Natural Gas" They get very shitty mpg about 175 miles to the tank. They take a very long time to fill up and it still cost a lot. And to me it feels like the trucks just don't make that much power on it, but that could be the crappy trucks we drive too. IMO CNG is a waist of time....

-Ross-

iTrader: (2)

How much $ does it cost to fill up the tank in your truck?

Gipraw

iTrader: (10)

the cost is comparable to gasoline.

lo_jack

iTrader: (27)

Not exclusively. Don't forget the shales. We have a lot of onshore natural gas that does not have a lot of associated oil.

Big Chuk

iTrader: (11)

GM has offer CNG as an option for a Loooooooong time. I used to work for a place that had CNG vehicles because that is what the owner wanted. The emissions are cleaner, motors run cooler & if you get a leak & the water/coolant get low it won't run hot & blow a gasket. But it does suffer in the Power just a little & milage is not that great but the cost of using it is comapable to gasoline. Just my.02 since I have driven them also

BlOWNSS

iTrader: (1)

3600 psi of natural gas in your trunk and 150 psi at the injectors would give me a bit of an uneasy feeling driving down the highway!!! Probably a lot of safeguards...but Damn if they failed!!!