Updated: FuelMaker, the beleaguered firm that made natural gas vehicle fueling stations for home users dubbed “Phill,” has finally found a buyer — well, its assets have. American Honda, the U.S. division of Honda (s HMC), which partly owned the decade-old Toronto-based company, has been trying to sell the firm for months — expending “considerable time and effort,” as American Honda put it recently in their statement. Meanwhile FuelMaker ceased operations and started bankruptcy proceedings in April. Well, this morning American Honda says a subsidiary of the automotive holding company Fuel Systems Solutions (s FSYS) has bought up the assets and IP of FuelMaker for $7 million an undisclosed sum (it’s got to be very low — it was previously selling for $17 million).

Despite FuelMaker’s best efforts, the natural gas vehicle distribution businesses just failed to take off. The device compresses natural gas from home gas lines, takes about four hours to fill an empty tank after a 50-mile drive (yawn), and costs between $5,500 and $6,000 (sticker shock). But the biggest barrier is clearly that natural gas vehicles are few and far between — Honda’s Civic GX is about the only consumer natural gas car around and can only be bought for $24,590 in select locations in California and New York. There’s more natural gas cars in city and enterprise fleets (AT&T plans to purchase 8,000 of ‘em), but still the market is nascent.

My guess is that in the long run the fate of Phill is up in the air. In a statement, American Honda said that it “fully expects” Fuel Systems Solutions to “both continue the production and sales of the home natural gas refueling appliances, as well as honor service warranties for existing customers.” But that seems more like lip service than anything else.

American Honda seems particularly concerned about not appearing to be the “Who Killed the Electric Car” of the natural gas vehicle world as a few Phill fans and FuelMaker employees started pointing fingers at Honda after FuelMaker ceased operations last month. The tone of this article on The Auto Channel, “Honda Suddenly Kills Fuelmaker In Stunning Move That Outrages CNG Movement,” sums up those claims, and also suggests that Honda has been stifling production of the Honda Civic GX in the same way that GM (s GM) pulled back from its first electric vehicle lines.

Natural gas distributor Clean Energy Fuels (s CLNE), where T. Boone Pickens is a director and the largest shareholder, had been trying to buy FuelMaker last year, but told us that Honda had stalled the deal by withholding financial information.

Clean Energy Fuels, the natural-gas vehicle distribution company of which former oil barron T. Boone Pickens is a director and largest shareholder, said last month it planned to buy FuelMaker from Honda and the FuelMaker Trust for $17 million. Well, late yesterday the companies announced that they have agreed to terminate the deal.

There were few details given in the announcement as to why Honda (s HMC) and Clean Energy Fuels (s CLNE) changed their minds, and we’re still waiting to hear back from the companies. But in the regulatory filing it sounds like Honda was actually the initiator of ending the agreement. In the filing Clean Energy Fuels says both companies had the right to terminate the purchase agreement if it did not close on or before Oct. 3, and this didn’t happen due to the fact that the sellers (Honda and Fuelmaker) were unable to deliver audited financial statements for FuelMaker’s parent company, a subsidiary of Honda, by that date. Clean Energy Fuels says it continued to negotiate but that on Oct. 13, 2008:

Honda delivered to us a notice that it intended to terminate the purchase agreement; and, after subsequent discussions, on October 15, 2008, we and Honda mutually agreed to terminate the purchase agreement in accordance with its terms.

That’s all we know, but the auto industry definitely has been having a hard time as of late. We talked briefly with FuelMaker President John Lyon and he referred us to Honda and Clean Energy Fuels for why the deal fell through.

Founded in 1989 and based in Toronto, FuelMaker manufactures natural-gas refueling appliances for industrial fleets, as well as a home consumer product called the Phill. Announced six years ago, the Phill compresses natural gas from home gas lines for vehicle fueling; it takes about four hours to fill an empty tank after a 50-mile drive. While it costs between $5,500 and $6,000 (there’s a possible tax rebate of $1,000 or so), Picken’s plan to power U.S. vehicles with natural gas could have used the Phill to help break the home distribution bottleneck.

But it looks like Clean Energy Fuel’s role in spearheading natural gas vehicle stations in our homes will just have to wait. FuelMaker was just one of Clean Energy Fuel’s planned acquisitions and investments. Earlier this year Clean Energy Fuels said it would purchase Dallas Clean Energy (DCE), owner of the McCommas Bluff landfill gas processing plant, for $19.1 million, and also agreed to co-invest $10 million (and another $10 million from Pickens) in the creation of a natural gas vehicle. The company’s stock (CLNE) was trading at $9.44 as of this writing, down from nearly $20 in early September.

In a previous post we mentioned that the Phill home natural gas refuelling system was soon to be available in Australia. The NVG Global announcement referenced in the previous article states that Advanced Fuel Technology is the authorised Australian dealer for Fuelmaker, the makers of the Phill. So for all of you who were wondering where to get a Phill in Australia, now you know.

In case you were wondering how T. Boone Pickens was going to break the home distribution bottleneck in his plan to get the U.S. to power its vehicles with natural gas, here’s one possible answer: Natural gas vehicle distribution company Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE), of which Pickens is a founder, said this morning that it plans to acquire FuelMaker from American Honda Corp. and the FuelMaker Trust for $17 million in cash. Founded in 1989 and based in Toronto, FuelMaker makes natural gas refueling appliances for industrial fleets, as well as a home consumer product called the Phill (seriously, it’s called the Phill).

The Phill, which was unveiled by Honda and FuelMaker in 2002, compresses natural gas from home gas lines, takes about four hours to fill an empty tank after a 50-mile drive, uses 800 watts, and weighs about 100 lbs. The biggest barrier to consumers buying the Phill is its price tag — we called the customer service line and the representative said we could get the Phill for between $5,500 and $6,000, including installation ($1,500) and shipping ($200). The representative said we were also eligible for a tax rebate of $1,000, or 30 percent of the cost.

In European countries like France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as in China, consumers can get the Phill through utility gas providers. In the U.S., you can buy the Phill directly in certain states. The device is meant to be installed in a garage or outside and in an installer needs to come to your house to pre-approve that your gas and electrical system is compatible.

Perhaps with Clean Energy Fuels, and Picken’s publicity, behind the wheel of the Phill, the device can get more distribution and awareness. We can’t imagine that many have been sold-to-date, given there’s still few natural gas vehicles on road. But then again former owner Honda has bigger pockets, and one of the most well known consumer natural gas cars out there — the Honda Civic GX, which costs $24,590, is sold in California and New York and has a 170-mile fuel range.

Clean Energy Fuels, despite a lack of profits, has taken an acquisition strategy to its growth. Last month the company said it had purchased Dallas Clean Energy (DCE) for $19.1 million. DCE is the owner of the McCommas Bluff landfill gas processing plant, which the firms claim is the third largest landfill gas operation in the U.S. Then earlier in August, Clean Energy Fuels, said it had joined with the investment group Perseus, and T. Boone Pickens to support the creation of a natural gas vehicle to the tune of $160 million. Clean Energy Fuels and Pickens plan to each commit $10 million, and Perseus is led the investment; the Vehicle Production Group will build the vehicle.

Regular readers will be familiar with my frustration at not being able to buy natural gas vehicles in Australia (previous post) when they are readily available in the US and Europe. It makes perfect sense to me to be able to refuel your vehicle at home from a cleaner and cheaper source of energy whose infrastructure is already in place. The good news is that FuelMaker Corporation are slowly expanding the number of countries into which they market their Phill natural gas home refueling appliance.

Phill is now commercially available in the Netherlands. FuelMaker are collaborating with General Motors (GM) to introduce Phill in the country as part of GM’s new marketing initiative of its natural gas version of the Opel Combo and Zafira. This GM initiative will involve promoting the Combo or Zafira and Phill together as a package and will help potential customers choose a natural gas vehicle (NGV) over petrol or diesel powered versions.

According to FuelMaker, Phill is now commercially available in Italy, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland and the United States. Phill will soon be available in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Barbados, the U.K., Australia, Lithuania, and Pakistan.

Source: NGV Global