Natural Gas is natural gas whether it comes in liquid or gas cylinders. It is explosive. The incidence of safety problems will increase with mass use of the product. That is a statistical reality and one of physics.
The fuel storage capacity will require heavier construction, make the vehicles heavier and in reality there is not that much savings to consumers in the way of cost when it applies to passenger vehicles.
...All Ram 2500 (click title to entry -thank you) Heavy Duty CNG pickups are powered by Chrysler’s 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 that has been modified to run on both conventional gasoline and compressed natural gas. New valves and valve-seat materials have been added to the redesigned cylinder heads – a move necessary to allow the engine to run on both compressed natural gas and conventional gasoline. It also gains an additional fuel rail and injectors for the compressed natural gas. Finally, new spark plugs and a new engine management computer monitor the engine when running either fuel....
For large capacity vehicles that ALREADY have strong structural designs like the trucks President Obama showcased today, CNG is an answer, but, for passenger cars where many people are involved adding weight to the vehicle to insure the safety will not result in a good vehicle for the USA Consumer and their families.
Americans have to make well informed choices and until the CNG vehicles are PROVEN to provide the safest standard on the road, I would never recommend it. Imagine an entire four lane interstate highway full of CNG cars and imagine a multi-car accident with CNGs flying across the road. It is a nightmare and I do not advocate any of it.
