RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

Interesting new story this morning about student loans. Seems the government takes in more money from the grads annually than Exxon Mobile takes in from their world-wide gasoline sales. And the pols want credit for "saving" the kids. What chutzpah!

LindsayRichards wrote:
What is the range on your wife's Honda? If I am not mistaken, that one is not a conversion and is spark ignited isn't it? Have you considered getting an compressor for your home for CNG (if you have it at your home)?

Thanks,

The Honda is a factory built CNG car with a range of about 220 miles, ours is a 2002 so we only have a few more years before the tanks expire and need to be replaced (which effectively totals the car based on tank replacement costs). We seriously considered a Phill compressor for pumping natural gas at home, but I'm not convinced of the whole CNG car thing, personally. They are much more complicated than gasoline (due to the high pressures involved), ridiculously expensive to repair, fuel filters need to be replaced annually at the cost of $100 (and that's doing it myself). These are of course mostly issues of volume (similar to the EV industry), but the fact is no one but Honda even builds a factory CNG car, and I don't see it progressing anytime soon. I just don't see CNG in my future, the only reason we have it is for the carpool lane access (cheap fuel is a bonus). The alternative for carpool lane access is a Volt or plug in Prius, they cost north of $30k. We bought the Civic 5 or so years ago for $8k (it was a previous gas company vehicle sold at auction).

From a cost point of view, it costs about $7k to install CNG at home. My pencil on napkin analysis did not show any payback period, so it would be strictly for convenience. And as it is, there are 5 CNG stations on my wife's commute, including one about 2 miles from where she works, so it's not a big deal. It would be nice to have a home option for the weekends, but we have enough cars (too many, some would argue...) that we don't need to drive the Civic on weekends at all.

What is the range on your wife's Honda? If I am not mistaken, that one is not a conversion and is spark ignited isn't it? Have you considered getting an compressor for your home for CNG (if you have it at your home)?

Thanks,

my electric car blew it's transmission a while ago (it's a 1995 Saturn pumping WAY more torque than ever intended...), and I haven't had the time to replace it. In the meantime, I've been commuting in my van. I try to fill up with 1/2 a tank so the pumps won't shut off at $100. I admit I don't really look at what the price/gallon is anymore, I know which station is always the cheapest and just go there and pump with my blindfold on. :)

My wife is still paying just $2.30/gallon for CNG in her Civic (which gets 35mpg), that's real nice with her 100 mile/day commute (which sucks, but sometimes you need to go where the jobs are!).

Sadly I've found that with old age, my van is needing 91 octane to prevent detonation when towing. Makes it even more expensive as I only get 8-9 mpg towing, and now have to buy premium! I suppose I should figure out what's going on with that, too... :R

The percentage of the potential work force actually working is at it's lowest point since the 1970's. 77% of the jobs created since 01/01/13 are part time and that is going to explode even more under ObamaCare. I love the stock market being so high, but am afraid when the $85 BILLION a month dries up, it will sink rapidly.

Death of parents that planned for the future is the driver of some toy sales I expect. With net negative interest rates for some spinning capital on toys is not costing as much in real costs in the minds of some I have spoken with. This same thought drives investing in dividend yielding stocks too I am told.

T58 said: The economy is starting to move if boat sales and trailer sales are an indicator.

Could be. More than likely, it's the old story, them that's got gets. Those are both luxury items. The market's been very kind to many for a while now. We just bought the DW a new King Ranch Expedition, and a couple years ago I was saying we'd never buy new again.

Of course, the reason the markets are flying is the same reason it may soon take a boatload of $$ to buy a loaf of bread. :E

tomman58 wrote:
SRT you can tell us how much gas went up today!

Yup, one station (Super America) has a price of $3.91 on Gas Buddy. But actually one of leading "low price" station lowered their price down to $3.57. The rest of the reported stations are slowly falling in line to the $3.59 mark.

For the diesel users, the prices range from $3.72 to $3.91. Hmm, in checking it seems that the person reporting the $3.91 gasoline price gave the diesel price.

For the sailboat "lovers", people from 50 states and Canada flocked into the head of the lakes and left a few million dollars in the city coffers at the "tall ship" gathering this past weekend. Maybe they can now fix some more infra-structure.

I just did a brief look at the history of electric cars and found they go back a whole far way, like almost 200 years! Around 1900 they were to be found in the USA for a while, didn't make bad city cars, as low ranges of around 30 miles tops, and their low speeds weren't that important, cities being much smaller then. They had other advantages, too. No crank starting, and much quieter, as mufflers had yet to be invented.

But Henry Ford's cars were far cheaper, down to $7,600 in 1916 vs. $42,000 and rising in 1912 for the e-car. (Adjusted $)

In the '60s and '70s, AMC and the big three made a run at it, but realized the futility of the venture. The government later got into the picture and, with money being no object(! ), developed the Volt!! Guess they didn't read the history and thought that over-century-old 30 mile range problem wasn't a hindrance.

What surprised me is the ni-cads and lithiums were around quiet a while, and now li-ion and others, none of which have even been able to replace the lead acid batteries we use. It's far cheaper, has fewer dangers, stands up to the cold way better than other types. Where, after nearly two centuries, is the meaningful advance in batteries that would enable an e-car to compete with the ICE? I'd jump on an opportunity to bring OPEC to its knees. Just give me a car that will hold the family, dogs, pull my TT and get me to my campground 800 miles away in two days with only a couple of half-hour gas-ups and potty breaks and price that car so it can be had for no more than 50k. I'm gettin old. Can't wait another 200 years. And at the current rate of progress, we'd be in the same place then as now and centuries ago.

Forgive any misstatements of fact, this is just my take after a quick look at the situation. I don't claim any wealth of knowledge on the subject.

LindsayRichards wrote:
Didn't read the article I see. They are worried about fracking because it is developing so much new oil and gas, they fear they will lose their position. 92% of their budget comes from oil related origins. The earthquake, dirty water is just fear mongering. The EPA has not been able to implicate it. Lets not get off on tangents. The point of the article is to show how they fear it which is a good thing. They are spending millions trying to influence the under informed around the world to maintain their strangle hold on us.

The Saudi's would probably return to their nomadic existence on a sand pile if they loose all those millions of dollars for their oil.