While you're waiting to pump gas at more than $4 a gallon and waiting for the long promised electric car models, consider how you might prefer pumping another gas inside your garage: Natural gas or propane. For a lot less, too!

The cable news pundits, principally CNN Money, are back on the subject of electric and other non-gasoline powered vehicles even when spot-market oil is dipping.

One recently highlighted vehicle is one I've been watching for some time: The Honda Motors (symbol: HMC) Civic GX, which runs on the compressed natural gas (and can also be converted to run on propane or methane)

The Honda's GX has been around since 2006 but if you don't live in California or parts of New York - and aren't one of the lucky ones "in the know," you probably haven't heard of this cool car.

I believe the GX and other natural gas cars could be a big part of the solution - someday - when there are more than a token few natural-gas filling stations along our roadways. In the meantime it's still a very interesting option for those who clock only modest around-town mileage and don't have to refill along the way (and are in areas where these cars are available). If you just clock 50 or 80 miles on a typical day and if you have natural gas at home, you can turn your garage into a natural-gas filling station and worry about your gas utility bills later - it will be a lot less than your current monthly gasoline expenses.

On the electric and hybrid/plug-in hybrid front, most of the major players are planning on coming out with a number of models in the next two to three years, including Ford (F), GM (GM) and Toyota (TM), but I'm skeptical on most of those claims for a number of reasons, especially with GM's much discussed "Volt." You can expect lengthy production delays and lame excuses. Mark my words. The big three and most of the others really don't want you to own electric cars - it kills their whole business model.

But in the meantime, for the rest of us, I believe the electric vehicle recommendation I recently gave my subscribers in G3 Global Options is a far better, and more timely, bet. And I expect this company to actually deliver the electric cars it's promising.

Best wishes,

Jeff Manera
G3 Global Options,
Emerging Markets Insider
Email: Jmanera@EmergingMarketsInsider.net