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This growth peaked in 2002 with 19 U.S. OEM vehicle manufacturers participating in producing and retrofitting NG vehicles. This activity virtually died by late 2006, leaving only 1 OEM left: the Honda GX. This 'death' in NGV growth can be blamed on over regulation and the linkage between EPA Certified vehicles and tax incentives and rebates which stunted the aftermarket conversion industry.

This growth, then death, proves two things:

1.) When there is a need, there are CNG system and parts manufacturing companies that are willing to fill that need with products, and

2.) When an industry becomes unprofitable due to over-regulation - or the gasoline-natural gas price differential is insufficient to payback the conversion cost - those same manufacturing companies will take their products elsewhere.

Gasoline Prices as an incentive.

Between 2005 and 2007, the price of gasoline nationwide fluctuated between a low of $2.11 gallon to a high of $3.11 in May of 2007. It then went down to $2.70 by October of that year and then started its 8-month climb to a high of $4.19 by June of 2008. After this historical peak, it then dropped like a rock to $1.39 by December 2008. Since then, it has slowly climbed back up to $3.75 as of April 2011.

CNG fuel prices as an incentive

CNG fuel price histories are harder to find so I will rely on my own (faulty) memory. When I started looking into CNG conversions in 2008, the price of CNG here in Utah was $0.68 a GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent). It seems like at that same time Oklahoma also had low CNG prices also. In Utah, we had the advantage of having some CNG refueling infrastructure already in place. Those areas that had low CNG prices, along with the filling stations already in place, became hotbeds of conversion activity during the first part of 2008.

These conversion activities led to CNG conversion shops opening and CNG systems being imported. Just as a few systems started to become available the price of gasoline fell (as stated above) and the budding interest in CNG conversions dropped off.

The death knell for the after-market, Non-EPA, CNG installers in Utah was the ill-advised inclusion of the requirement that all CNG vehicles must have an EPA certified system in order to pass the yearly Utah Highway Patrol safety inspection. This rule presupposed 2 misconceptions, 1) an EPA certified CNG system would always conform to NFPA 52 safety standards, and 2) that any CNG conversion can be certified by the EPA, both of these statements are blatantly false.

If this rule stayed in place 1000′s of CNG vehicle owners in Utah would suddenly lose the privilege of driving their vehicles. UHP safety inspections are universal in Utah. This January 2009 law change was later challenged in court ruled invalid, but the damage to the interested-public's understanding was already done. It has been suggested that this ill-advised rule was due to over-zealous local news coverage and false rumors spread by certain Conversion shops threatened by their new aftermarket competition.

Misconceptions about CNG Conversions

Some of the biggest problems CNG Converters, and would-be CNG Conversion customers, face is a false conception that CNG Kits are readily available here in the United States and that there is already a kit available that is tailor made for their specific vehicle. What You Need in order to Know About Natural Gas Vehicles, What You Need to Know About Natural Gas Vehicles, distribution natural gas pipelines