For the past year, Kristin and Joe Scott made their daily, 70-mile round trip commute cheaper and cleaner by driving their Honda Civic GX.
The “GX” means that their 2009 Civic is powered by natural gas — the same stuff most of us use to heat our homes and hot water. Natural gas, compressed to 3,600 pounds per square inch and stored in a tank inside the trunk, burns cleaner than gasoline and provides roughly the same mileage in the Honda, about 35 mpg.
The problem for the Scotts and the handful of other people in the Springs who own natural gas-powered cars is that there are only two natural gas fueling stations in the city and, in a week, one of those is going away. When it does, the Scotts’ Civic may have to go with it.
“We adore the car,” Kristin Scott said. “My husband’s vote is to make it work. My vote is to sell it.”
On Aug. 1, Clean Energy Fuels, which owns both stations in the Springs, is closing the location at 701 Tia Juana St. Clean Energy co-owns that station with Colorado Springs Utilities and Utilities did not renew the agreement. A spokeswoman said Utilities wasn’t using natural gas vehicles anymore, while Clean Energy said that without a large fleet customer like Utilities, there aren’t nearly enough customers in this area to keep the station going. There were only about 15 to 20 private users of the Tia Juana station.
It’s ironic in a time when there’s more natural gas production than ever going on in Colorado and natural gas is being touted as a potential fuel of the future that it would be so difficult to own a natural gas car in Colorado Springs. But building even a small fueling station costs $600,000.
“With 250,000 gallons of fuel (a year), then we can justify putting in a station with our capital,” said James Orsulak, Clean Energy’s business development manager for the Rocky Mountain region. “That’s why we go after the big, high-volume fleets like taxis, trash trucks, buses.”
When the Scotts bought their Civic a year ago, Joe Scott flew to Utah to pick up the car, then carefully plotted a route home connecting natural gas stations. He even had the car towed for one 50-mile stretch to make sure he didn’t run out of fuel.
The Civic was a twofer for the Scotts: It ran clean and it was cheap to operate. The natural gas equivalent of a gallon of gasoline costs only about $2 a gallon. The Civic GX cost about $9,000 more than a regular, gasoline Civic, but state and federal tax credits brought it roughly to parity, Scott said.
The downside is that the GX’s tank only holds enough gas for roughly 200 miles, requiring the Scotts, who live in Peyton, to fill up every other day. Since the Springs’ only other natural gas station is located on Fort Carson, it’s not a simple matter to switch sources.
Jamie Louie owns two natural gas Civics, a new one for him and a 2001 for his daughter, Dana. Losing the Tia Juana station is an inconvenience, he said, but he’ll be able to use the station in Castle Rock — the next closest station — en route to his job in Lakewood and his daughter usually only fills up once a week.
“We can make it work,” he said. “For me, the price of natural gas is so much cheaper, it’s definitely worth it.”
Louie is considering buying a home compressor — which takes the low-pressure natural gas coming into the owner’s home and, over about seven hours, fills the car’s 3,600 psi tank — but the units cost several thousand dollars. That’s not an option for the Scotts, who only have propane at their house.
It’s a frustrating situation, Kristin Scott said, but she said she’s not sorry they bought the car.
“We’ve had a really happy year,” she said. “We made the right choice for the right reasons. We just got unlucky.”‹
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