It’s possible I might have misunderstood that the tanks were for CNG and LPG–looking at it, I’m seeing the toroidal tanks for LPG but not CNG, no doubt for the reason you cited. At any rate, they’re pretty cool and now Worthington is manufacturing them here in the US.
Back last century I was a fleet manager with a fleet of cars and small vans. We ran a fairly large scale trial on LPG with variable results.
The incentive was cost, because petrol and diesel are highly taxed here and the tax on LPG was a lot lower; the cost of the conversion was also subsidised (by the taxpayer).
What we found was that car drivers complained that they lost space in the boot for the tank, and suffered from condensation which made the boot floor wet. Performance did suffer but was acceptable and starting in the morning was a problem - the advice was to switch to petrol a mile from home at the end of the day. Van drivers had the same problems but space was less of a concern.
What we did find was a saving on fuel consumption overall that exceeded expectation. This was puzzling until we analyzed the individual fuel consumption before and after. What soon became obvious was that some drivers were stealing fuel - most likely by siphoning it out. Of course, they couldn’t do that with LPG - hence the saving. Naturally, we had to replace some staff.
Our conclusion was that it was not worthwhile to switch the whole fleet over, and as the LPG vehicles came up for replacement we went back to conventional. We also found that resale prices suffered because the general public was not keen on them.
In contrast, many private car users who drove 4WD cars with large engines and plenty of space (Range Rovers, xTrails, etc.), found it highly beneficial to convert to gas, even if it meant that they had to fill up at some strange places (farms and taxi depots were quite common).
That is pretty cool, thanks. Yeah it looks to be welded around the middle, which limits the max pressure.
Yeah, I don’t see how else you’d make a toroid tank without the welds. I must say, I rather lust for one, it would be neat to consolidate my two eighteen gallon cylinder tanks into one nice toroid instead.
Another advantage for LPG is that you can store a vehicle for long periods of time without having to worry that the gas will have gone bad and will damage the engine. LPG doesn’t go bad and leaves no residue in the engine so it’s a great choice for a seldom used vehicle. I don’t drive the van much these days, since I have two other vehicles that suit my needs better (Subaru Legacy wagon and a midsize pickup) but it’s nice to know that if I don’t get out and start it every so often the only thing I have to worry about is the battery going flat.
One thing many people don’t think of is the immense advantage LPG vehicles have in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Since I know the guy who’s done all the installations and conversions for hundreds of miles around in the event of a large collapse of civilization I’ll be all up in his invoices finding the vehicles I need–and he’s done conversions for cars, trucks, vans, buses, and even tractors–then I’ll be hitting every single propane company, filling up all their tankers to capacity and driving them out to my property. While everyone else is going all Mad Max scrounging for ever deteriorating gasoline I’ll be sitting pretty with all the fuel I need for the rest of my life and if you come try to take it, I’ll torch off one of the tankers and fix your little red wagon for good! Not that I’ve given it any thought though. 