Toyota announces natural-gas Camry hybrid

The first alternative-fuel car of the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show has already been announced; Toyota will combine natural-gas and hybrid power in its CNG (compressed natural gas) Camry hybrid concept. (Camry SE shown.)

While natural-gas cars get roughly equivalent fuel economy as those powered by gasoline, the key difference is that emissions are cleaner. Plus, natural gas is clean-burning and in abundant supply in North America. However, tanks to hold natural gas are very large and hold relatively little fuel. Thus CNG-fueled cars tend to have a fairly modest driving range. And with only about 500 CNG stations nationwide open to consumers, the short range is a big problem. The hybrid system helps alleviate that somewhat. Our gasoline-powered Camry Hybrid had a range of 600 miles, so if the CNG version has conservatively half the range (roughly the same relationship of the Honda Civic Hybrid compared to the Civic CNG), it would be close to that in most gasoline cars.

In our testing of a gasoline-powered Camry Hybrid, we noted its relatively small trunk, worsened by constrained access resulting from the hybrid-battery cooling systems. With a large CNG tank, the trunk may be tiny. We’ll keep you posted when we see the car next month at the L.A. Auto Show.

For now, the CNG Camry Hybrid is a concept car; Toyota announced no plans to build more of them.

Look for live, daily coverage of the Los Angeles Auto Show starting November 19th.

—Eric Evarts

Learn more about fuel economy in our guide to driving green.

 

Comments

[Matériel d'insonorisation]

Yesterday it was oil, today it is hybrid, tomorrow it is somthing else. the car will always be a problem to nature

[Frank]

I agree with Matériel d'insonorisation!
But what can we do?

[Mark J]

If I remember correctly, in Australia, people can get dealer installed kits for their Ford & GM cars to convert them to run on natural gas. Some quick Google searches seem to back this up.

It also appears that taxis in Brazil run on natural gas.

Why is this country so slow to make the conversion? I would think that the companies that own the landfills would be all over something like this...

MJ

[RabbitSEA]

Good morning to all. CNG is a short term solution to high cost fuels such as gasoline or diesel. Personally I want to keep my large SUV, and I like the idea of the gas to liquid process Shell and others are using to convert natural gas to diesel and other light bleeds. Unfortunately our government is forcing us to stay with the present system so they can tax us in several different ways. First, the oil field lease tax the oil companies pay goes directly into the U.S. Treasury. Second, at the pump Federal and State road tax’s. The Federal cut is based on the value/price of wholesale fuel, which is smart. But the States elected to price by the price per gallon at the pump, figuring that we would not conserve and stay with our big rig’s. Well, they got surprised when we ran half the drivers from the roads and spiked fuel at prices that broke the back of our economy. Yes as was said there are several cheap and easy alternatives. CNG/LNG and or Plug In electric are here and easy to use. But the Federal and State governments are concerned about you and me charging our cars on electric systems not road taxed by gallon equivalents. Here in Washington State I wanted to convert may Navigator to CNG and install a refuelling station at home in my garage. I was met with all kinds of hurdles; none that make much sense other than its cheaper to buy from the gas pump. I will still convert to CNG at a later date. Regards Rabbit