Posted: April 2, 2011 - 6:54pmPhotos

Ray Talley, shop foreman at Crain Automotive, displays the vehicle refueling appliance for compressed natural gas like ones he predicts will soon be in most home garages. BECKY HARRIS PHOTO

By Becky Harris
Ray Talley is the shop foreman at Crain Automotive in Conway.

He was busy Tuesday showing folks how easy it will be to operate an automobile on compressed natural gas (CNG).

In the not-too-distant future, he predicts, most home garages will have a vehicle refueling appliance, dispensing natural gas.

The one in the garage at Crain hangs on the wall, looks like and is about the same size as a central vacuum cleaner system.

It connects to the natural gas line.

“It’s very safe, odor-free and easier than filling up at the gas station,” Talley said. “And it doesn’t get on your hands.”

He was among those praising the conversion of a GMC Yukon that was given to the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce by Southwestern Energy (SWN) and Crain Automotive.

The Yukon, all dressed up in Conway green and wearing the Get Smart logo, will be used for Chamber activities and promoting uses of natural gas and the industry.

Talley, who has been with General Motors for 40 years, was certified to convert and work on CNG vehicles more than 15 years ago, so it’s a concept not new to him.

“They didn’t catch on,” when CNG-powered vehicles were first introduced, he said.

He expects that will change as more carmakers are getting interested again, what with rising gasoline prices.

CNG fuel costs are about half the cost of gasoline.

That’s important to companies that have fleets of vehicles.

“GM has an express van that can be ordered with CNG right from the factory. Honda is the only carmaker with a CNG-equipped car, but sales have been slow for them,” Talley said.

There are about 10,500 CNG vehicles on U.S. roads now, he said.

George Sheffer, vice-president for exploration and production at SWN in Conway announced on Tuesday that perhaps by the end of the year SWN would have 100 CNG pickup trucks operating in the Fayetteville Shale.

A CNG dispensing station will be opened in Damascus.

Until a fueling station opens in Conway, the Chamber of Commerce Yukon will have to be fueled at Crain Automotive. It will require an overnight stay. But at a CNG station, the process will take only four minutes, Talley said.

It takes about 20 hours for a certified technician to convert a certified vehicle to CNG.

“It’s all very safe,” Talley said. “I wouldn’t participate in anything that I wouldn’t put my mother in.

“I’m totally all in with CNG.”

Buck