The 2015 Bi-fuel Chevrolet Impala is something out of a "Back to the Future" movie. Though it may not be a time machine, the car is capable of running on trash.
Cleveland-based quasar energy group uses organic waste to make a renewable energy source known as biogas. This is then converted into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which is one of two fuels that can power the new 2015 Chevrolet Bi-fuel Impala, according to a company release.
Biogas is the mixture of gases given off by the breakdown of organic materials kept in an oxygen-less environment. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) is made once the resulting methane gas is processed, which removes all carbon dioxide and impurities. RNG, when compressed, can act as a direct replacement for CNG.
Biogas can be made from most organic materials, which means quasar can insource raw materials, otherwise considered waste, from a number of industries.
For example, Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, contributes food waste for CNG-production after it's been "macerated in an industrial-sized InSinkErator Grind2Energy garbage disposal," according to GM.
Anheuser-Busch's Columbus brewery provides an organic by-product to quasar for conversion to methane gas.
"If you can buy renewable fuel at $1.95 per gallon while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, everybody wins," said Mel Kurtz, president of quasar energy group in a press statement. "quasar's Columbus facility can produce 1.3 million gasoline gallon equivalents of CNG each year," or enough to fill the CNG tanks of 163,000 Bi-fuel Impalas at least once.
Despite the fact that CNG fueling stations can be found in places like California and Oklahoma, infrastructure in other states is scarce.
"To avoid feelings of range anxiety common in owners of CNG-only vehicles, we made the Impala bi-fuel, allowing our customers to drive on CNG when available and on gasoline when it's not," said Nichole Kraatz, Impala chief engineer, according to GM.
Impala's bi-fuel system can switch seamlessly to gasoline power when the CNG tank is depleted. Drivers who want to change fuels while driving can do this just by pushing a button.
Operating on CNG can result in an average of fuel savings of nearly $1.13 per gasoline-gallon-equivalent based on a national average of $3.24 per gallon of gasoline as reported by AAA and $2.11 per gge of CNG, reported by CNGnow. CNG vehicles usually have 20 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline-powered cars, according to the California Air Resources Board.
The Bi-fuel Impala is the only bifuel-capable sedan on the market to offer a factory warranty. Once it goes on sale later this year, the Bi-fuel will have a starting price of $38,210.
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