Only natural
Bi-fuel conversion with compressed natural gas "is the wave of the future."
 
Bill Winters shows a CNG conversion on a Ford Focus at the Jim Norton Dealership in Broken Arrow. Stephen Pingry/Tulsa World

 
By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Published: 2/7/2010  2:22 AM
Last Modified: 2/7/2010  4:14 AM

Related story: Examining the caveats of CNG.

Bill Winters puts his keys where he thinks the future is.

The fleet and commercial sales manager at Jim Norton Ford in Broken Arrow drives a Ford F-250 pickup — but not just your typical truck— every day. This F-250 is a bi-fuel conversion, alternately motored by both compressed natural gas and regular refined petroleum gasoline, completed in the Jim Norton service garage.

"If you believe in something and want to do it right, that's what we did," Winters said. "This is the wave of the future."

Tulsa Gas Technologies owner Tom Sewell also is a convert to CNG. Well, of course, it's his whole business, either building stations or converting Chevrolet Impalas, Mercury Milans and other vehicles to bi-fuel or dedicated CNG vehicles.

But Sewell takes CNG personally, too. He has allowed his daughter to drive a conversion since she was 16.

The move for fleet vehicles is well known, and business is good and getting better for producing personal vehicles that run on CNG. Oklahoma State University is moving much of its car fleet to dedicated or bi-fuels. Other employers and even private individuals are anticipating that the ultimate payoff in fuel savings and environmental impact is worth the $13,000 price tag to convert to CNG.

"I tell Mom and Dad Consumers to look at bi-fuel cars," Sewell said.

Compressed natural gas has an octane rating approaching 130 and powers the same engine more efficiently than gasoline or diesel engines, proponents say. The cost is between $1 and $1.50 per gallon of gas equivalent; the greenhouse gases emitted through the exhaust pipe are nearly zero; and much of the fuel can be produced in Oklahoma or at least on this continent.

"It's a good win-win for us," Sewell added.

Nationwide, now, business and political leadership are starting to take notice. Congress may vote on the NAT GAS Act — to provide tax incentives for producing CNG vehicles—this spring, while groups such as the Tulsa-based National Energy Policy Institute contend that CNG could be a "bridge fuel" to help whittle down U.S. dependence on oil imported from hostile nations.

The pricing and pollution pluses already have been noted. Another key is availability: America has historic volumes of natural gas stored and potentially reserved due to high-tech drilling.

Downsides exist, of course. The conversions are expensive and places to fuel up are few and far between.

"The biggest challenge is infrastructure not only in the state but throughout the U.S.," Chris Hoffman, Oklahoma State University's manager of transportation services, said. "And there's going to be a payback on fuel costs, but not a total payback."

The OSU fleet recently added 10 Impalas converted to dedicated CNG vehicles along with five Honda Civics and nine transit buses, Hoffman said. Within five years, the Stillwater school hopes to convert about half of its 800 vehicles.

Tulsa Gas Technologies and Jim Norton Ford are not the only local firms taking up the CNG mantle. Crane Carrier already builds chassis for convertible trash trucks.

CNG bi-fuels also are easier to switch on and off than in past eras, Sewell added. Nowadays the bi-fuel Impala and its brethren can go from gasoline to CNG or back without much of a hitch, compared to forced stops when changing fuel sources years ago.

Winters, of Jim Norton Ford, vowed that he barely notices when shifting his Ford F-250 from one to the other.

The Jim Norton dealership's transition hardly has been seamless or painless when it comes to CNG. Customer interest waxes and wanes, depending on the price of gasoline, but the company initially committed about $150,000 to research and training years ago.

"We started doing the research in 2006, because we felt like we wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology," Winters added. "When gas was $4 our phone rang off the hook."

Winter's office is now getting 10 to 12 calls per day about CNG vehicles. Jim Norton has state and city contracts on converting fleet vehicles and is spending more each year in its faith that demand for CNG cars is going to stick around.

"We surely have invested a lot of money into thinking that," he said. "Now everyone is wanting to get on board."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=49&ar...

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