Gas, not Oil.

On second thought, this should be moved. The invention of a gas engine would have to be in the late 19th century, so this should be moved to the before 1900 forum.
 
Compressed natural gas can easely be used in cars, although at a reduced power. And it's cheaper and less contaminant, so PODs should be difficult. And they can be post-1900. Simply start with the regular engine and then, at some point, add compressed natural gas to the market and make it more adopted by consumers.

EDIT: I meant that PODs shouldn't be difficult.
 
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How early can an infrastructure for compressed or liquefied natural gas be built? One of the great advantages of gasoline is that it can be stored reasonably safely in glass bottles or metal drums and repackaged by hand.
 
I don't know, but I don't think it would be that hard. I mean, residential areas are supplied with natural gas so it's a matter of compressing the gas into the cylinder, at least in urban areas. Unless I'm missing something I don't think it's really a problem of technical/technological PODs but something along market trends. Perhaps some change in the 70's?
I don't really understand why the USA residential market hasn't adopted it but I might just be missing something. Anyway, here's the wiki article on it.
 
Is there anyplace that hasd more natural gas than oil? Or where it is more easily accessible?

It would have to be postwar, I can't see the infratructure put in place widely pre-WWII. But perhaps something can be done in postwar Europe? Oil imports are tighter, maybe there is less Marshall aid or the oil price spikes early. as a result, gasoline is rationed and used for essential transport only, and urban private cars increasingly go over to unrationed gas (filling from extant cooking gas networks initially). By the tiome the oil market stabilises, many Europeans already own gas cars. When the oil fields in the North Sea and Noirth Africa open up, natural gas becomes plentiful close to home and the infrastructure for gas vehicles expands as the price difference grows. By 1990, hardly any European filling station is without a natural gas pump and most sewage treatment plants already feed biogas into an established system. The USA still largely runs traffic on gasoline (as do Europe's militaries), but petrol cars are dying breed outside of specialty niches (diesel remains the favorite for heavy transport and all-terrain vehicles).
 
Is there anyplace that hasd more natural gas than oil? Or where it is more easily accessible?

It would have to be postwar, I can't see the infratructure put in place widely pre-WWII. But perhaps something can be done in postwar Europe? Oil imports are tighter, maybe there is less Marshall aid or the oil price spikes early. as a result, gasoline is rationed and used for essential transport only, and urban private cars increasingly go over to unrationed gas (filling from extant cooking gas networks initially). By the tiome the oil market stabilises, many Europeans already own gas cars. When the oil fields in the North Sea and Noirth Africa open up, natural gas becomes plentiful close to home and the infrastructure for gas vehicles expands as the price difference grows. By 1990, hardly any European filling station is without a natural gas pump and most sewage treatment plants already feed biogas into an established system. The USA still largely runs traffic on gasoline (as do Europe's militaries), but petrol cars are dying breed outside of specialty niches (diesel remains the favorite for heavy transport and all-terrain vehicles).

It might work, but I was thinking in something simpler. Let's say that when oil prices rise in the 70's compressed natural gas is seen like a cheap alternative for people who drive cheap cars (you really don't want cng in a bmw anyway), combined with cng seen as an more ecofriendly alternative (but I don't know if that was that much of an issue back then) and government incentives as it's seen as a way to reduce oil imports or take advantage of existing national reserves (Canada, USA, West Germany). Other than that, delay the development/financing of electric/hybrid vehicles and therefore, just a few years ago cng is seen as a cheaper alternative to gasoline and a way to keep suv's sales up
Here are the maps and list of natural gas producers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Natural_gas_production_world.PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_gas_production
 
I would have thought there'd be more instances of cars blowing up owing to faulty storage tanks. And there'd be bigger problems with the aviation industry, if it's allowed to even "take off" (pardon the pun). Might lead to continued travel by Airship or more ocean-going vessels.
 
I would have thought there'd be more instances of cars blowing up owing to faulty storage tanks. And there'd be bigger problems with the aviation industry, if it's allowed to even "take off" (pardon the pun). Might lead to continued travel by Airship or more ocean-going vessels.

Gas strorage technology is pretty good - it doesn't happen much even in accidents (though insurers still insist that gas cars may not use underground parking).

As to planes - I don't think the technology is viable. Same with heavy trucks - diesel gives you more torque.
 
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