Natural gas-fueled cars offer several advantages over their gasoline-powered counterparts. Natural gas burns more cleanly than fossil-fuel gasoline and produces less CO2. The United States has ample supplies of natural gas, making the country less dependent on foreign imports of the fuel. And it's less expensive per gallon than gasoline. You'll have a hard time finding a place to fill up a natural gas car's tank, however, and only one car maker, as of 2010, offers a model that uses this fuel.
Emissions
According to the Natural Gas Vehicles for America, compared to a gasoline-powered car, a natural-gas vehicle will emit up to 30 percent less carbon dioxide, 95 percent less oxides of nitrogen and 90 percent less carbon monoxide. This qualifies natural-gas cars for Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle status.
Performance
The one natural-gas powered vehicle for sale in the United States, the Honda Civic GX, sports a 113 horsepower engine. This, coupled with the car's 2,910 lb. curb weight, translates into modest performance. For comparison, a test drive by Edmunds of a gasoline-powered 2009 Toyota Corolla returned a 10.1 second 0 to 60 acceleration time for a 2,778 lb. model with 132-horsepower engine.
Fuel Availability
According to Natural Gas Vehicles for America, about 500 filling stations offer this fuel to the public. According to the Department of Energy, 162,000 stations sold gasoline in the United States as of 2008.
Fuel Supply
Improvements in production and geology have increased natural gas reserves in the United States from a 60 year supply in 1990 to an 80 year supply in 2006. Even with those reserves, the U.S. imports about 15 percent of its natural gas, mostly from Canada. In 2008, the U.S. imported 57 percent of the crude oil used to make gasoline.
Costs
As of July 2010, the natural gas-powered Civic GX with automatic transmission lists for $25,340. A comparably equipped gasoline-powered Civic LX lists for $19,005. A gallon of gasoline in April 2010 averaged $2.84 in the U.S. As with gasoline, the price of compressed natural gas varies by location, averaging $1.90 for an equivalent amount of fuel.
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