Cash for Clunker Trade-Ins Included Clean Natural Gas Trucks and Vans

But Owners Found No CNG Alternatives to Buy With Their Clunker Credits

Finally got around to perusing the official preliminary list of vehicles traded-in during the cash-for-clunkers program, and aside from the 1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante (!), what struck me most was the number of natural gas vehicles whose owners decided were clunkers ready for the trash heap.

In addition to some 2,000 flex-fuel vehicles - which we don't consider green because their owners, according to all sorts of government and private studies, rarely put anything but gasoline in the tank - there were 1,135 natural gas vehicles on the 130-page list.

The natural gas cars and trucks are considered green because natural gas is a low-pollutant, low-carbon fuel  (California's tough Air Resources Board gives vehicles running on natural gas the same "clean air car" sticker and admission to carpool lanes that it gives to electric cars).

It didn't take long, though, to see why it made senses for the owners of these particular compressed (CNG)- and liquefied (LNG)-natural gas vehicles to consign them to the scrap heap in favor of a $3,500 or $4,500 credit on a new car or truck.

Most were elderly, likely with lots of miles tallied as fleet cars or taxis, and all had to meet the sub 18-mpg rule for "clunkers.'  

For those of you who like to keep count, most were Fords - which may not be an indictment but rather a simple  acknowledgment that Ford made more CNG and LNG vehicles than anyone else in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
 
CNG-powered Ford Crown Victoria sedans, a favorite of taxi fleets, accounted for 855, or 75 percent of the total, and CNG Ford F150 pickups and Econoline Vans accounted for 196, or 17 percent, (54 of the F-150s were dedicated CNG truck and 43 were bi--fuel models, capable of running on gasoline for natural gas.)

There also were 59 Ford F-250 CNG pickups on the trade-in list published by the Transportation Department.

Dodge was next in the CNG trade-in tally, with 19 CNG Ram Vans and Ram Wagons; GM was third, with five Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD pickups and one GMC Sierra 2500 HD pickup.

There also was a single Chevy Silverado mild hybrid pickup from the 2004 model year - that's the hybrid system that provided select GM pickups with start-stop capability and a modest electric assist at takeoff, subtracting just one mpg from the regular Silverado's fuel consumption.

When you consider that catalog, the shame isn't that owners traded these natural gas vehicles in for new gasoline-powered cars and trucks with far better fuel economy but worse air quality impact. 

The real shame is that - with the exception of a handful of aftermarket conversions and a few thousand GNG Honda Civics each year - the U.S. market no longer offers natural gas vehicles that could have replaced some of the nearly 700,000 vehicles traded-in under the cash for clunkers program.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Posted by

John O'Dell September 28, 2009, 12:11 PM

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Natural Gas

Technorati Tags:

Cash For Clunkers, CNG, Compressed Natural Gas, Green Vehicles, Liquefied Natural Gas

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