Tuesday, 29 May 2012

CNG Kit Fitting - Economy, Compressed Natural Gas Economy

CNG (or compressed natural gas) is eco-friendly and it is also inexpensive. CNG, which is measured in terms of kilos, currently costs 33.10 in Mumbai, and offers a slightly better mileage than diesel. The cost of a CNG kit falls in the range of 30,000 to 55,000, depending upon the make of the car.
For example, a CNG kit for a Hyundai Santro or a Honda City could cost you between 30,000 and 35,000. A kit for Honda Accord could cost you 55,000. The cost also includes the mandatory RTO endorsement.
However, a kilogram of CNG can give you an average mileage of 18 km, which means the average cost of driving every kilometre is only 1.89. Compared to this, a car like WagonR, which gives you an average of 14 km per litre of petrol, will cost you 5.67 per kilometre. So for every kilometre you drive on CNG, you can save 3.78.
That means you can recover the cost of fitting your car with a CNG kit driving only 8,000 km. If you drive 1,500 km every month, or 18,000 km every year, you can save 68,000 on fuel cost alone.
“The mileage of a car improves once fitted with a CNG kit. Some large cars with more than 2,000-cc engine give a mileage of 7-8 km per litre on petrol. However, once fitted with CNG, the mileage improves to 11-12 km,” says Taranjit Singh of Dashmesh CNG Impex, a CNG kit supplier.

“As such, all car models are compatible to CNG kits, however, our mechanics check the condition of the car and its compatibility before starting the conversion process,” he adds. However, there are some drawbacks in fitting CNG kits.
“If the CNG kit is not authorised by the company, the car warranty lapses the moment you fit a CNG kit,” says Praveen Srivastava, of Pearl Honda, a Delhi-based Honda dealer. Not all manufacturers sell CNG-fitted kits. Maruti and Hyundai sell some models of their cars with factory-fitted CNG kits.
Disadvantages:-
Another worry is higher maintenance cost. “CNG can corrode the engine of a car. Unlike a petrol car, you cannot ignore/delay car maint- enance for CNG cars. The engine can get completely damaged if ignored,” says Banwari Lal Sharma, AVP (marketing), CarWale, Automotive Exchange.

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