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Auto Editor
A.P. McCredie

AUTOMOTION

AFTERMARKET VEHICLE
conversions to natural gas

and propane have been avail-
able in B.C. for years, but
vehicle manufacturers have
shied away from mass-pro- -
ducing factory-built alterna-
tive-fueled vehicles - until
now.

Chrysler is now offering natural
gas versions of its popular Caravan
and Voyager minivans and full-size
Ram Vans through its dealer net-
work.

. These are “mono-fuel” vehicles.
not “dual-fuel” vehicles. While
mono-fucl vehicles are designed to
run on natural gas only, dual-fuel
vehicles will run on either natural gas
‘or gasoline. The reason Chrysler is
offering mono-fuel vehicles only is

. that they offer substantially
improved exhaust emissions when
compared to gasoline or duai-fuel
vehicles.

That’s important because most of
these vans will be sold in the U.S.A.
where some states aiready require
companies that operate large fleets of
vehicles to switch to vehicles pow-
ered by cleaner-burning alternative
fuels. B.C.’s Ministry of
Environment is currently looking
into this type of mandated alterna-
tive-fuels use.

Natural gas fuel meets strict
California U.L.E.V (ultra-low emis-
sion vehicles) standards, the kind of
standards being looked at in B.C. If
these standards are adopted here, nat-
ural gas is likely to be the top choice
amongst alternative fuels in B.C. for
five main reasons: it’s produced in
B.C., it’s already available, it’s
cheap, gasoline engines can be easily
converted for natural gas use, and the
B.C. government is likely to offer
incentives for people to buy natural
gas vehicles.

DRIVING THE MONO-FUEL

VAN

B.C. Gas Utility kindly lent me a
new natural-gas powered Dodge
Ram cargo van for a few days to test
the real life experiences of driving a
natural gas mono-fuel vehicle.

Apart from the four, tubular stor-
age tanks protruding from under the
frame, the natural gas van looks
much Jike any other full-size van.
Unlike a dual-fuel vehicle. the natur-
al gas Ram Van weighs about the
same as a regular Ram Van because
the storage tanks are made of fight-
weight aluminum wrapped in fiber-
glass.

Turning the ignition on produces
an audible “click” in the rear of the
van, the sound of a valve opening to
release gas from the tanks to the fuel
lines.

When started, the 5.2-litre V8
idles just tike any other V8, and
accelerates much like one tuo,
However, the automatic Wansmission
gear ratios were altered to take into

A 985-2131 (113)

account the different torque curve of
natural gas, and | found that this van
tended to hang in second gear too
long.

Under acceleration, a rather
annoying whistling sound emanates
from ihe back of the van as pressur-
ized gas is forced through the fact
lines from the tanks. This sound is
more pronounced i an uninsulated
cargo van, like the one | was driving.
than in a passenger van.

With four tanks, the range of my
full-size van in the city was only 220
kilometres, Jess than half what you
could expeet froma gasoline van.
Being a mono-fuel vehicle, you can’t
switch to gasoline if you run out of

vehicles

natural gas, so you have to make sure

you know where the natural gas sta-
tions are in your area, There are
about 50 natural gas refuelling cen-
ters in B.C. with half of those in the
Lower Mainland.

If you do run out af fuel in the
middle of the highway, you cannot
jee down to the next gas station and
pick up a tank of natural gas, It
doesn’t have the portability of gaso-
line.

Atthe moment. B.C. Gas Utility
has a service vehicle for emergency
road-side assistance, and it is expect-
ed that BCAA will offer on-site nat-
ural gas fill-ups when there are more
natural gas vehicles on the road.

THE REFUELING
EXPERIENCE

The Petro-Canada station 1 pulled
toto had both full-serve and self-
serve natural gas pumps, both offer-
ing natural gas for the same price: 51
cents per kilogram (a measurement
of weight) which works out to about
33 cents per fitre.

The pump operates much like a
regular gasoline pump. Lifta pistol-
like nozzle from the pump and pull
over the lever to allaw gas to start
pumping. The filling receptacle on
the van, located where the gas filler
used to be, has a rubber ce, which
clips off. The pistol-like nozzle just
pushes and locks onto the receptacle.

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You then turn a lever on the nozzle
and gas flows into the tanks.

While filling up, the flowing gas
make some unusual noises —
whistling. groaning. rattling and
vibrating as the tanks fill up.

Filling all four tanks takes about
as long as filling a big gasoline tank,
but remember, you only get half the
range, so you'll have to fill up twice
as often. ~

The design of the nozzle and
receptacle was changed this year to
conform to a uniform North
American standard.

Once the domino effect gets start-
ed, natural gas for cars could take off
in a big hurry.

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