2008 LA Auto Show: Totoya Camry CNG Hybrid Concept
By John O'Dell November 19, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
CNG hasn't caught on with automakers - Honda's the only company presently selling a natural gas car - but Toyota thinks things could change and wants to be ready if they do.
Thus was born the CNG-electric Camry Hybrid Concept (right) being unveiled today at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Toyota actually spilled the beans two months ago when it announced that it would show the concept car at the LA event, which opens to the public Friday and runs through Nov. 30.
But the company is providing a few previously withheld technical details with today's official unveiling.
The numbers
Under its hood, the CNG Hybrid Camry carries a 2.4-liter, 4-cylinder engine and Toyota's patented "hybrid synergy drive" electric powerplant and drive system. The whole thing has a combined power output equal to 170 horsepower
Toyota says the concept would get almost the same EPA mileage rating as the conventional gasoline-electric Camry Hybrid, coming in at 32 miles per gallon in the city cycle, 34 mpg on the highway and 33 mpg overall, versus 33 mpg city, 34 highway and 34 overall for the regular hybrid model.
In testimony to the fuel saving prowess of a hybrid system, the non-hybrid Honda Civic GX natural gas car is EPA-rated at 28 mpg overall, 15 percent less than the larger and heavier Camry CNG Hybrid.
The Camry CNG Hybrid Concept started with a standard Camry Hybrid then stripped off its gasoline fuel storage and delivery system and replaced it with a system suitable for compressed natural gas.
That included a pair of 4-gallon cylindrical fuel tanks installed in the car's spare tire well (right)
, and special fuel lines, injectors and engine control software to handle the pressurized gas (it usually is delivered at 3,600 psi).
Because it is a show car, the vehicle's exterior also got some attention, including a custom front fascia and front bumper cover that eliminates the grill opening, and a custom rear bumper that conceals the tail pipe and otherwise visible part of the exhaust system.
The CNG hybrid concept is shod with 19" Bridgestone run-flat tires - to make up for loss of the spare tire - and the car was lowered and its sides emblazoned "Compressed Natural Gas Hybrid" graphics.
Looking Forward
There's no promise that Toyota ever will build a real CNG-burning Camry Hybrid - the concept model will be up on the Toyota stand mainly to see if it generates much buzz among show-goers (the usual raison d'etre for any concept car).
But company officials have said they believe CNG, which burns cleaner and costs less than gasoline, has huge potential as we stare into a future of increasingly expensive and scarce gasoline.
It also is unlike Toyota to let a competitor such as Honda have a piece of any market all to itself.
The market for CNG vehicles in the U.S. is tiny now - Honda sold 1,200 of its Civic GX natural gas cars in the past year and expects to sell just 2,000 next year, a limit set in part by production capacity constraints and in part by lack of a nationwide retail CNG fueling system to make the cars usable for more than limited-distance driving.
But Toyota sees it growing and wants to be ready with a competitive car in its arsenal when the time is right.
"In the near future, growing demand for liquid petroleum simply and effectively will exceed supply," says Chris Hostetter, group vice president for advanced vehicle strategies at Toyota Motor Sales USA. "Before that occurs, automakers must look to vehicles powered by alternative fuels. We believe CNG will be one of those alternatives."
CNG, Toyota says - sounding like a commercial for the recently defeated natural-gas boosting Prop. 8 in California - "can potentially reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil and reduce vehicle operating costs. Currently more than 99 percent of natural gas used in the U.S. comes from domestic and other North American sources. Proven worldwide natural gas reserves are estimated to last until 2100 and have the potential to last until 2200 through improved advanced production methods."
On the green front, natural gas cars are promising to some because, while not as clean as battery- and fuel-cell electric cars, they use a fuel that has fewer particulate emissions and less carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and non-methane organic gases than gasoline.
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