Natural-gas cars stepping up

EAST LIBERTY, Ohio — Selling cars powered by natural gas to American drivers is no small challenge for Honda Motor Co. Natural-gas stations are few and far between, and until recently the vehicles were nearly as expensive to fuel up as their gasoline-powered counterparts.

Now gasoline prices are up about 60 cents a gallon from a year ago, and motorists can buy a device that allows them to get natural gas fill-ups at home. Honda plans to expand sales of the natural gas Civic GX next year to major cities around the country.

The automaker, which makes the car in this western Ohio city, hopes to triple its retail business — going from about 500 cars this year to 1,500 in 2006.

"The market is coming to us," said Gunnar Lindstrom, head of Honda's alternative fuels division.

However, many of those who buy natural gas cars aren't driven by their pocketbooks. They like the idea of having a cutting-edge car that's less polluting and doesn't rely on foreign oil for fuel. And Lindstrom said the car is being marketed as a secondary, commuter car.

Automakers developed natural gas vehicles in hopes that their lower operating cost, cleaner burning fuel and non-reliance on foreign oil would create a market. By 2004, there were about 130,000 vehicles running on natural gas — most of them buses, government vehicles and commercial vehicles. By comparison, there were about 230 million gasoline-powered cars and trucks.

The scarcity of refueling stations kept sales of natural gas vehicles down, and some automakers abandoned their U.S. production.

Honda, which first sold natural gas vehicles only to fleet operators, is the only U.S. automaker that makes a natural-gas-only car for individual motorists. General Motors Corp. offers natural gas trucks but sold fewer than 1,000 last year.

Honda in April began selling the Civic GX at dealerships in California, where there are about 135 refueling stations available to the public, and natural gas cars are allowed to use the less-crowded car pool lanes even with a single occupant. The automaker has sold about 475 of the cars as of late last month.

Then, Toronto-based FuelMaker Corp. began selling refueling machines that motorists can put in their garages. About 50 have been sold.

Fill-ups have been a hurdle in sales of natural gas vehicles, which don't have the range of gasoline-powered vehicles. The Civic GX can go up to 220 miles without refueling compared with 350 miles for the conventional, gasoline-powered Civic. There are about 600 public natural-gas refueling stations in the United States.