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Just drove from Southern California to my home in Colorado Springs, Colorado after taking delivery of a new 2009 Honda Civic GX. May have set a new GX mileage record for a stock cylinder of CNG on one segment of my trip. This is all true and not exaggerated.
Arrived at the Questar pumps in Rock Springs, Wyoming about noon last Sunday, Oct. 12th. Air temperature was just above freezing. Had gotten a great fill at the Questar pumps in Evanston, Wyoming the evening before. But, all along I had concerns about the longest leg of my trip, approximately 260 miles from Rock Springs to Cheyenne. Found the pumps in Rock Springs and put in 2.24 GGE ($1.25 per GGE). Went and had lunch for about an hour, came back and topped off with another 1.06 GGE. Got back on I-80 eastbound and set the cruise control at 60 mph. Even though you go over the Continental Divide, the uphill sections are fairly gentle. Whenever I saw an uphill section coming I would speed up to about 70 mph. Usually I could crest the hill without the transmission shifting down. The GX was turning about 2000 rpm at 60 mph. Probably had some tail wind.
About half way to Cheyenne I noticed I had used only about a quarter tank of CNG. I breathed a sigh of relief and kicked the cruise control up to 70 mph. I knew I could make Cheyenne with fuel to spare.
Had gotten a Clean Energy card ahead of time knowing full well that I would need it to fuel in Cheyenne and all other Colorado CE CNG pumps. Arrived at the pumps in Cheyenne about 6 p.m., swiped my Clean Energy card and entered the pump number as instructed. ERROR - INVALID VEHICLE. What the hell, I was never instructed to enter anything about my vehicle. Tried about 6 more times alternating between pump 1 and 2. ERROR - INVALID VEHICLE. Great, called CE on my cell phone, but it is late Sunday afternoon. Of course, no one there. What to do now. I really didn't want to spend the money on a hotel room for the night when I was only about 180 miles from home. Looked at my current fuel situation and counted 7 bars. The next fuel opportunity was in north Denver right off I-25, about 100 miles.
My next decision was pretty stupid. I had been in Las Vegas a couple of days before, so I guess I still had the gambling bug. Decided to go for north Denver. Figured if my CE card did not work there I would get a room in Denver and contact CE in the morning.
Well, needless to say, I MADE IT. Still had 2 bars lit, but I think the second bar was about to go out. My CE card worked and I was able to fuel up for the last 80 miles to Colorado Springs and home.
I kept very accurate records on my trip. Total mileage from the Rock Springs pumps to the north Denver pumps, 356 MILES!! Divide that by 8 GGE, 44.5 mpg. I guess I was real lucky (or a hypermiler) for a newby.
Can anyone top 356 miles (2 bars still lit) with a stock GX CNG cylinder?
Dick Sommer
Arrived at the Questar pumps in Rock Springs, Wyoming about noon last Sunday, Oct. 12th. Air temperature was just above freezing. Had gotten a great fill at the Questar pumps in Evanston, Wyoming the evening before. But, all along I had concerns about the longest leg of my trip, approximately 260 miles from Rock Springs to Cheyenne. Found the pumps in Rock Springs and put in 2.24 GGE ($1.25 per GGE). Went and had lunch for about an hour, came back and topped off with another 1.06 GGE. Got back on I-80 eastbound and set the cruise control at 60 mph. Even though you go over the Continental Divide, the uphill sections are fairly gentle. Whenever I saw an uphill section coming I would speed up to about 70 mph. Usually I could crest the hill without the transmission shifting down. The GX was turning about 2000 rpm at 60 mph. Probably had some tail wind.
About half way to Cheyenne I noticed I had used only about a quarter tank of CNG. I breathed a sigh of relief and kicked the cruise control up to 70 mph. I knew I could make Cheyenne with fuel to spare.
Had gotten a Clean Energy card ahead of time knowing full well that I would need it to fuel in Cheyenne and all other Colorado CE CNG pumps. Arrived at the pumps in Cheyenne about 6 p.m., swiped my Clean Energy card and entered the pump number as instructed. ERROR - INVALID VEHICLE. What the hell, I was never instructed to enter anything about my vehicle. Tried about 6 more times alternating between pump 1 and 2. ERROR - INVALID VEHICLE. Great, called CE on my cell phone, but it is late Sunday afternoon. Of course, no one there. What to do now. I really didn't want to spend the money on a hotel room for the night when I was only about 180 miles from home. Looked at my current fuel situation and counted 7 bars. The next fuel opportunity was in north Denver right off I-25, about 100 miles.
My next decision was pretty stupid. I had been in Las Vegas a couple of days before, so I guess I still had the gambling bug. Decided to go for north Denver. Figured if my CE card did not work there I would get a room in Denver and contact CE in the morning.
Well, needless to say, I MADE IT. Still had 2 bars lit, but I think the second bar was about to go out. My CE card worked and I was able to fuel up for the last 80 miles to Colorado Springs and home.
I kept very accurate records on my trip. Total mileage from the Rock Springs pumps to the north Denver pumps, 356 MILES!! Divide that by 8 GGE, 44.5 mpg. I guess I was real lucky (or a hypermiler) for a newby.
Can anyone top 356 miles (2 bars still lit) with a stock GX CNG cylinder?
Dick Sommer
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