2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas named 2012 Green Car of the Year

[msirach]

Dealer base expanded to 31 states

Mike Sirach - CleanMPG - November 17, 2011

The all new 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas was named 2012 Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show this morning.

Honda received the award from the editors of Green Car Journal as well as a diverse panel of environmental experts and auto enthusiasts including: Jay Leno, Carroll Shelby, Carl Pope, Frances Beinecke, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Matt Petersen.

"The Civic Natural Gas is not only a great vehicle, it also demonstrates Honda's commitment to provide a variety of alternatives to gasoline," said Michael Accavitti, vice president of marketing at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "The Civic Natural Gas and the all-new Fit EV that we introduced yesterday at the Los Angeles Auto Show are the latest additions to a rapidly expanding family of alternative energy Honda vehicles aimed at cutting petroleum use and reducing our carbon footprint."

The 2012 Civic Natural Gas went on sale on October 18 in California, New York, Utah and Oklahoma with a MSRP starting at $26,155. Honda is expanding its retail network of Civic Natural Gas retail outlets to 200 dealers in 36 states to support growing consumer interest in alternative-fuel vehicles. With multiple benefits including lower fuel costs and extremely low smog-forming emissions, the 2012 Civic Natural Gas currently qualifies for a state-issued decal allowing single-occupant access to High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) "carpool" lanes in California and several other states.

The Civic Natural Gas engine produces almost zero smog-forming emissions and is the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Tier-II, Bin-2 and ILEV certification as of August 2010)

New styling, enhanced feature content and increased fuel economy, the redesigned 2012 Civic Natural Gas can now be equipped with the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System featuring an exclusive database of publicly accessible Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) refueling stations across the United States.

[WriConsult]

Considerably more expensive than a hybrid or diesel, and runs off a fuel that isn't available to the public within 200 miles of my home? No thanks.

[Harold]

Originally Posted by WriConsult

Considerably more expensive than a hybrid or diesel, and runs off a fuel that isn't available to the public within 200 miles of my home? No thanks.

That is so weird that Portland does not have a fill station for NG.:H

[diamondlarry]

This would work in my area. I know of several refueling stations fairly close to where I'm usually driving.

[EdwinTheMagnificent]

I would have to drive about 20 miles out of the way to fuel up. I could do that for a while. But using 15-20% of each tank just to get there ? Nahh , this isn't a workable solution for Edwin.

[Carcus]

Is there a life limit on the tank? If so, how long and what's the replacement cost?

[WriConsult]

There are a number of fleet-specific filling stations in town (including one just blocks from my house), but none that are open to the public. There used to be one in Hillsboro (a few miles out of my way), but they stopped offering CNG a couple years ago.

[uRabbit]

Originally Posted by Harold

That is so weird that Portland does not have a fill station for NG.:H

Quite. Considering there is at least one that I know of here, and at least one BioDiesel station as well. In a city with less than 800,000 residents...

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by Carcus

Is there a life limit on the tank? If so, how long and what's the replacement cost?

We have a fleet of CNG Civics at work. I'll be driving one to a project site in just a few minutes.

No, there is no life limit on the fuel tanks. In the bad old days, there used to be on cheapo American cars, where the conventional gas tanks would start leaking at year 7 or 8 and need replacing. We have '01 CNG Civics and none have needed a fuel tank replacement.

Harry

PS: keep in mind the fuel tanks handle CNG @ 3,600 psi, so they have to be sturdy.

[herm]

Originally Posted by WriConsult

Considerably more expensive than a hybrid or diesel, and runs off a fuel that isn't available to the public within 200 miles of my home? No thanks.

Well it does get you an HOV lane sticker in LA.