Wise Gas, Inc has begun operations. www.wisegasinc.com

Wow, what a week, anyone that has ever said "History repeats itself" is pointing at the NGV market. In 1998, there were 5 conversion shops, 60 NGV refueling sites and 1,929 Natural Gas Vehicles in Florida. Today, we are reviving the past to give economic life for the future. We have spent the last few months researching the business opportunity, governmental acceptance, opposition and roadblocks to making this venture a success. What we have found is complete and unwavering acceptance. Whether for environmental or economic reasons, everyone is interested in Natural Gas Vehicles. We have determined that widespread acceptance is not going to be easy, but it IS possible. The first step is having a public fueling station in Florida. That day is coming. We will be announcing in the next few weeks when and where. Simultaneously, there has to be vehicles to use the station. While we feel there is a number of "underground" NGVs, we stand by the law that any conversion must be EPA approved and we will be announcing an EPA approved conversion shop opening in the next few weeks. New and exisitng vehicles was our next mission and we have had numerous opportunities to bring vehicles in to Florida, again to be announced shortly.

The end result of this week, barring a hurricane, our technician will be flying to Canada to receive the FuelMaker and Phill training.. We have dozens of meetings scheduled to assess fleet opportunities, government options and public station placement. And we should be able to announce several events that we are very excited about.

Keep the faith and keep us in your thoughts.

Please visit our site at www.wisegasinc.com and give your feedback.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dave on August 17, 2008 at 5:16pm: Simple question.

What vehicles can you make conversions on? Do you have a list of them?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Greene on August 17, 2008 at 6:46pm: Dave,

We are just getting started on the EPA approval, we will be working with BAF Technologies east coast distributor Baker Equipment as our initial partnership. I will have a complete list next week and it will go up on our site. We have two imported kits that are being used safely in South America and Europe but the EPA is our current roadblock, but based on your bio, you already knew that.

Let me know if you have any other options on kits, the rest of the manufacturers have not been overly receptive to coming to Florida but we are pushing them all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike on August 31, 2008 at 3:05am: Way to go Jeff, I hope your venture pans out. Keep the faith.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Curtis Martin on August 18, 2008 at 9:12am: A complete list of EPA approved kits is available on www.cngchat.com in the conversions forum. Dave, you are welcome to transpose that info to whatever venue suits your purpose. We at cngchat support you and also have a group in the Pickens Forum.

That said, you also mention that you have 2 foreign kits. You should contact and work with the manufacturer of those kits to obtain EPA approval and leave them in the back room until such time as those certifications are obtained, as they will be illegal to use until that time. If and when Florida adopts CARB regulations, anyone with those kits on their car (and your business) would be subject to a $5,000 per day fine.

Best of luck and keep us posted both here and at cngchat. We have a number of members in Florida looking for the service you provide, as well as looking for partners in establishing infrastructure. With our nearly 4,000 members at cngchat we represent virtually every contingent of the cng industry, from the utility companies, conversion shops, small vehicle manufacturers, station installers, even Clean Energy stalks our halls, along with Honda and many others. We even have Fuelmaker reps in there. Come on by and throw your hat in the ring. You'll be surprised at the support and resources we ammassed already.

And if you haven't introduced yourselves to the local Air District and Clean Cities people in your area, do so immediately. You'd be amazed at the amount of financial assistance there is to support your endeavors right now.
Curtis Martin
Alt Fuels Mgr/RPH Honda
CNGChat Administrator
Clean Cities Coordinator for Southern Kern County/Antelope Valley; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Greene on August 19, 2008 at 5:48pm: Curtis,

We are an avid supporter of your site as you can see by our link to your site on our links page. The information we gathered from your site and my conversation with you was instrumental in getting our venture off the ground. We are indeed not selling any conversion kits until they are EPA approved, but thanks for looking out for us. The industry can not afford to have any issues while we fight this battle. We are starting to get congressional support and to date we have had great reception from our state and local politicians. Next time you are in Florida, give me a call.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Curtis Martin on August 21, 2008 at 6:01pm: Thanks for the kind words, and I wish you the very best with your venture. Glad to hear that I was able to empower your activities. I think you may have found yourself at the right place at the right time. With the market heating up... I think this could be a wild ride.

But if Honda doesn't start giving me something to sell... I may be sending out resume's before long.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jason Anderson on September 9, 2008 at 1:37pm: Can anyone tell me the logic to the EPA's requirement that they recertify the same kit every year. And if there is a good reason... could we not doing somthing about getting the cost of that process reduced or eliminated?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave on September 9, 2008 at 3:13pm

Jason,
There are several here that are very knowledgeable on this question. From listening to them, it seems most agree that there is no sound logic. I've attached a comment made by one of our members (DubleDeuce) that helped me.

Attachments:

History of EPA Reg's on Transportation Fuels.doc, 110 KB

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Permalink Reply by Jason Anderson on September 9, 2008 at 1:34pm: http://www.ngvamerica.org/pdfs/marketplace/MP.Analyses.NGVs-a.pdf. Is a list of the vehicles that have certified converstion kits. The number is limited and I would be willing to bet that there are more out there somewhere.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave on September 9, 2008 at 3:01pm: That's the big problem, there aren't! At least EPA certified one.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave on August 17, 2008 at 7:16pm: Good luck with your endeavors. Please keep us up on your dealings with the EPA.

Also, one of our members(?) comments have seemed to indicate CNG conversion kits are not so feasible due in part to "low pressure ADSORBENT technology." He does not explain this however. I'm not in the industry and not a rocket scientist. Maybe you have some understanding of what "low pressure ADSORBENT technology" is, and could explain its impact on CNG conversions?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Curtis Martin on August 18, 2008 at 10:10am: Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) technology allows the storage of cng at low pressure (about 500psi) as opposed to the 3600psi currently in use. The system is in use in India in a trial involving their 3 wheelers that are in heavy use there.

Low pressures like this is safer, requires much less expensive infrastructure, but can store comperable amounts of gas as the high pressure systems. It is a fledgling technology that has not taken hold in America even though the only ANG tank manufacturer I am aware of is in the US. There is an extensive blog on ANG at cngchat. It could be the next big thing in cng vehicles if it ever comes to fruition.
Curtis; ▶ Reply to This