Honda to offer natural gas Civic

GREENSBURG, Ind. - Natural gas vehicles are more commonly used by a companies and governments. City buses, taxi cabs, delivery trucks and fleet vehicles are taking advantage of the clean, green fuel. Honda now plans to offer it to the everyday consumer.

When Honda built its Greensburg plant the company said it would make gasoline powered Civics. Then came the surprise announcement that the company would bring production of the Civic GX natural gas vehicle exclusively to Greensburg in mid 2009.

The natural gas-powered Civic looks the same as a regular Civic but costs around $25,000. Honda said it is the only manufacturer that builds natural gas-powered cars for the general public.

According to Natural Gas Vehicles for America there are over 150,000 natural gas vehicles on U.S. roads and over five million worldwide. And of the current 1,500 natural gas fueling stations in the U.S., half are available for public use.

Companies like Citizens Gas have been using the technology for years.

Citizens Gas owns 80 service vans that are powered by natural gas. The company said not only is it cheaper to fill up, but they see lower maintenance costs. For example, the vans need an oil change just once a year.

"Because natural gas burns it creates fewer deposits inside your engine," said Dan Considine of Citizens Gas.

Citizens uses two different methods to fill up. A slow fill method is where the driver plugs in and it takes about eight hours to fill up the tank. The quick fill method is like going to a regular gasoline station. Hook up, turn it on and watch the price at the pump.

Natural gas costs are, on average, one-third less than gasoline. The current price in Indianapolis is equivalent to $1.34 a gallon.

When it comes to emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency rates Honda's natural gas powered Civic as the cleanest commercially-available internal engine in the world. And experts say the fuel is safe to use since it is less explosive than gasoline, and harder to ignite.