[prabhatshah]

The idea to put in a cng kit in a used vitara is very good. I had a test drive of one such used vehicle at a used car dealership. The car had a very good pick up and drive with very little loss of power. Unfortunately our deal did not go through and I later bought a used scorpio crde 2wd.

[AGP]

Thanks Guys for your response, I have finally booked Ertiga Petrol VXI. I was in real confusion whether Diesel or Petrol converted to CNG, till 10 days back, when Central Government announced that they are going to remove the subsidy on Diesel and the prices would go up by Rs. 10 per litre on Diesel in 1 year.

With Petrol, at least you have an option later to convert into CNG. Hence I am going for Ertiga Petrol. Regarding CNG, I have discussed with several good installer from Mumbai and they have confirmed that in Ertiga CNG can be fitted without removing the last row of seats.

Will post soon about the my conversion. Thanks,

[advaitlele]

Since your initial post mentioned you being open for sedan - why not consider City or SX4 with company fitted CNG? you have decent boot space + cabin for 4/5 people + CNG cost effectiveness.
And on top of that you get company fitted kit that means no warranty issues + they have spruced up suspension as well to take extra weight of the kit.

Though you've booked Ertiga, with its already tiny boot space, accomodating CNG kit may not be a viable option. Just my 2paisa.

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by Aroy

As CNG powered engine has much lower power, your SUV will take ages to accelerate (more like a moped).

I find this statement to be grossly incorrect. may i request you to kindly support our statement factually?
to the best of my knowledge, the calorific values of the two fuels differ by only 4000 kJ/kg. however, the metering of CNG injected per cycle is higher than that of gasoline and therefore the gross energy released inside the combustion space is higher.
in terms of quality of combustion too CNG is better as a higher percentage of CNG (when compared to gasoline) mixes with the charge air (due to a gas-gas mixing) leading to better combustion.
therefore, kindly do not compare power output by sweeping statements on the basis of hearsay or popular myths (pardon me, just an assumption on my part).

[MetalBuff]

Originally Posted by AGP

Thanks Guys for your response, I have finally booked Ertiga Petrol VXI. I was in real confusion whether Diesel or Petrol converted to CNG, till 10 days back, when Central Government announced that they are going to remove the subsidy on Diesel and the prices would go up by Rs. 10 per litre on Diesel in 1 year.

With Petrol, at least you have an option later to convert into CNG. Hence I am going for Ertiga Petrol. Regarding CNG, I have discussed with several good installer from Mumbai and they have confirmed that in Ertiga CNG can be fitted without removing the last row of seats.

Will post soon about the my conversion. Thanks,

Hello AGP,

Many congratulations to you! A review imminent from your end Do ensure you go through FrankMehta's thread and touchbase with the same guy who worked on converting his Civic to CNG.


Hello All,

Wouldn't we experience problems while registering a 2.0 + Litre capacity CNG converted car? Now, the Vitara and the CR-V are 2.4L versions. Can we get those registered legally? All I have heard is, the only way to do this, is to get it PEN registered

-Shivang Gandotra

[superbhikari]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

I find this statement to be grossly incorrect. may i request you to kindly support our statement factually?
to the best of my knowledge, the calorific values of the two fuels differ by only 4000 kJ/kg. however, the metering of CNG injected per cycle is higher than that of gasoline and therefore the gross energy released inside the combustion space is higher.
in terms of quality of combustion too CNG is better as a higher percentage of CNG (when compared to gasoline) mixes with the charge air (due to a gas-gas mixing) leading to better combustion.
therefore, kindly do not compare power output by sweeping statements on the basis of hearsay or popular myths (pardon me, just an assumption on my part).

Don't know about technicals but sharing my personal experience - drove my relative's company fitted CNG i10 and believe its a pain to drive/accelerate it as compared to my regular petrol i10. Also to mention the CNG car is newer by 2 years and better maintained then my car.

[ACM]

CNG cars are noticed to have a drop in power compared to when used in Petrol mode. But is only about 10% and that is kinda like having two AC's (1 additional) switched on in the same car in terms of load.

That said unless a vehicle is light (like the ertiga) for heavier vehicles (SUV / MUV) diesel would be a better fuel (comparing engines of the same size) not just because of the current pricing and better fuel effeciency but mainly because of the higher torque values which is what is used to move the vehicle from standstill intertia, and Diesel engines invariable have a higher torque figure. Yep there are some good heavy SUV's running on petrol but that is at the higher end of the spectrum and we are talking about 3ltr+ engines v6, v8 engines etc. which would anyways require a private fuel pump. So if one does want a 7 seater vehicle (SUV or MUV) in petrol then Ertiga is indeed a good option especially as one does have the CNG option for the future, but here too one is giving up on the nice national engine option.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

I find this statement to be grossly incorrect. may i request you to kindly support our statement factually? . . . . therefore, kindly do not compare power output by sweeping statements on the basis of hearsay or popular myths (pardon me, just an assumption on my part).

Thank you, hands of steel! You've hit the nail on the head! - I wish people would not make sweeping generalizations and misguide others. Not only is CNG a cleaner burning fuel, the newer kits available today (april 2015) have much greater control sophistication to compensate for the differential in the C.V. of the two fuels.

And with the new NGT announcement (and SC endorsement) about curtailing use of 10 year-old diesel vehicles, it becomes a matter of even greater importance. Like many other owners, I am seriously considering the possibility of converting my diesel Scorpio to CNG. I am in the process of searching for organizations (in Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata) who carry out the conversion from diesel to CNG. Any information in this regard would be deeply appreciated.

With best regards,
Shashanka

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Thank you, hands of steel! You've hit the nail on the head! - I wish people would not make sweeping generalizations and misguide others. Not only is CNG a cleaner burning fuel, the newer kits available today (april 2015) have much greater control sophistication to compensate for the differential in the C.V. of the two fuels.

And with the new NGT announcement (and SC endorsement) about curtailing use of 10 year-old diesel vehicles, it becomes a matter of even greater importance. Like many other owners, I am seriously considering the possibility of converting my diesel Scorpio to CNG. I am in the process of searching for organizations (in Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata) who carry out the conversion from diesel to CNG. Any information in this regard would be deeply appreciated.

With best regards,
Shashanka

Your best bet would be to find out how the buses are converted from diesel to CNG, and who does it.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Your best bet would be to find out how the buses are converted from diesel to CNG, and who does it.

Thanks Aroy, in fact that is just what i am in the process of doing and am awaiting replies from some of the mfrs / retailers of various CNG conversion kits. The problem obviously is that converting diesel to CNG is not as straight forward as gasoline to CNG. The primary issue being the difference in comp. ratio between diesel and gasoline/CNG engines (app. 20:1 against app. 10:1) and, of course, compression ignition as against spark ignition. Since conversion of bus engines from diesel to CNG is now accepted practice (tho' of course operational and reliability issues are still foggy and misty!) I am hopeful that the technology can be extended to car engines. Just how comprehensive would be the needed modifications to the Scorpio engine is what is keeping me on tenterhooks!

Regards,
Shashanka

[droolingvoyager]

With the recent announcements - 'Nitin Gadkari Tells Carmakers: Move To Electric Cars Or Be Bulldozed' and also extreme pollution levels ie lead poisoning is going to go against petrol diesel cars in near future.

My question was, its right time for team-bhp to probably look at current Battery/CNG/LPG options. I can see only hatchbacks and sedans which can be converted today.

For me, market forces and environment concerns are more real than my choice of what I would like to drive. I am looking for some suggestions on which way a customer should look at if he looks at the new horizion of greener options.