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But Owners Found No CNG Alternatives to Buy With Their Clunker Credits

Finally got around to perusing the official preliminary list of vehicles traded-in during the cash-for-clunkers program, and aside from the 1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante (!), what struck me most was the number of natural gas vehicles whose owners decided were clunkers ready for the trash heap.



In addition to some 2,000 flex-fuel vehicles - which we don't consider green because their owners, according to all sorts of government and private studies, rarely put anything but gasoline in the tank - there were 1,135 natural gas vehicles on the 130-page list.

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Ford Crown Victoria CNG models, like this 1996 Crown Vic posted on the Pickens Plan pro-natural gas Website, were the most-frequent "green" trade-ins during the cash for clunkers program this summer.
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The natural gas cars and trucks are considered green because natural gas is a low-pollutant, low-carbon fuel  (California's tough Air Resources Board gives vehicles running on natural gas the same "clean air car" sticker and admission to carpool lanes that it gives to electric cars).


It didn't take long, though, to see why it made senses for the owners of these particular compressed (CNG)- and liquefied (LNG)-natural gas vehicles to consign them to the scrap heap in favor of a $3,500 or $4,500 credit on a new car or truck.
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Tags: Natural Gas, Cash For Clunkers, CNG, Compressed Natural Gas, Green Vehicles, Liquefied Natural Gas

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Cash for Clunker Trade-Ins Included Clean Natural Gas Trucks and Vans was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.