In their small Toronto factory, FuelMaker has been building natural gas vehicle refueling equipment for commercial use since 1992. Phill is essentially a scaled-down version, tailored to the needs of the home user.

FuelMaker's production team assembles each Phill unit by hand, then runs each finished unit through a 48-hour test cycle.

FuelMaker's products can be used with any natural gas vehicle, but Phill was developed in partnership with Honda, maker of the natural gas-powered Civic GX.

"We've been selling fleet vehicles for 7 years now, and we have lots of background and lots of understanding of how the car works in the marketplace. and it's worked out extremely well for us. And that gives us the confidence to go on to retail sales now." – Gunnar Lindstrom, Manager, Alternative Fuel Vehicles, American Honda

As with other clean alternative fuels, the environmental benefits of CNG are easy to see, but gaining mainstream acceptance requires the infrastructure for convenient refueling.

There are only about 800 public CNG fueling stations in the U.S., so Honda and Fuelmaker are betting that consumers will embrace the convenience of home refueling.

One of the earliest to take the plunge was Dan Baker of Chandler, Arizona. Dan and his wife, Dawn, bought two Civic GX's to use in their daily commutes just so they could refuel at home.

Dan: "The dealer was the first one who told us about the home-fill unit and that they were available, and that this Phill unit was going to be coming out, and you could fill at home and not have to go to a commercial site, and just do it overnight in your garage."

Dawn: "One of the big things with this car was the time we could save in travel. My work's 35 miles away, and my job had moved, so we wanted to find a quicker way to get home and back, and with the natural gas car in Arizona, you can ride in the HOV lane, so this is huge for our family and time."

Dan: "So we figured it costs a dollar, dollar ten, dollar eleven for natural gas, whereas the local gas staion, its 2 and a quarter, two thirty for gasoline. So the house gets charged at its own rate, now we have a second bill with the second meter for the Phill station."

Dawn: "We each take turns using the fuel station, basically, so if Dan fills up tonight, I fill up tomorrow night, so when we come home, we pretty much know which side of the garage to park in so that we fill up our car."

Of course, one of Dan's primary concerns was the safety of his family. The idea of compressing gas in your garage may seem daunting, but Phill is certified as a home appliance, so it's every bit as safe as your gas oven, clothes dryer, or hot water heater.

"Safety is a prime concern. We have to make sure that this thing is foolproof, that there are no accidents. And that's part of the certification we get from an appliance.

The Department of Energy in the US have been very helpful, because they too want to ensure this thing is very safe, for obvious reasons, and they have contracted with NREL to do a complete safety audit and study of not only Phill, but Phill and the vehicle fueling..the whole process inside your garage.

NREL was a big help to FuelMaker, because during the process of doing the design and looking at all of the safety aspects, NREL worked with our engineering people, a very positive relationship, made some suggestions, saying you know you could do this instead of that, which we've accepted and built into the design and the end result is what we believe and NREL believes is an extremely safe machine." – John Lyon

So, while Dan and his family go about their normal daily routines, they are not worried about Phill, humming away in the garage, safely refilling their cars with clean natural gas.

In the morning, it's off to work for the Bakers, while Phill gets the day off. Now if only they could teach Phill to clean your house while you're away!