Would
natural gas cars make sense?
Thursday, August 27,
2009
A
rough look at pricing
Today, buying hybrid
cars only makes sense if you think long term, and
not even then in some cases. Inevitably, achieving
even 10 percent hybrid market share will require far
better cost-effectiveness.
So, what about natural gas vehicles?
My local Honda dealership is selling Civic GX natural
gas vehicles for $25,388, while a Civic
hybrid lists for $23,650.
Thus, those additional upfront costs would require
much cheaper natural gas versus gasoline prices, which
might be possible. Once the Rocky Mountain natural gas
pipeline is fully functional - within a year - natural
gas prices throughout the nation could see a
significant drop. Still, might not demand eventually
catch up to supplies and push prices higher?
On the other hand, economies of scale would seem to
suggest that if automakers sold as many natural gas
vehicles as hybrid vehicles, natural gas vehicle
components would drop in price; therefore, natural gas
vehicle pricing would also decline. Nonetheless, a
natural gas vehicle would never be as cheap as
conventional vehicle, but maybe hybrids.
What do you think? Could natural gas cars make sense?
Labels: Hybrid
Vehicles, natural
gas
