LPG Cars
It surprises me that given all the recent publicity over alternative
fuel cars the emphasis has been on hybrid electric vehicles. There has
been hardly a word written about cars run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)
where all the advantages equally apply and, in some cases, surpass
battery vehicles.
We have been running an LPG Vauxhall Astra Estate since November 2006.
Apart from environment considerations, we expect to save about £500 on
fuel as well as a reduction of our licence fee to £90 pa.
There are two options when buying an LPG car: convert an existing car
or buy new from a dealer. The cost of a subsequent conversion ranges
from £1200-£1800 depending on the sophistication of the car. Locally
this can be done by Autogas Yorkshire, Ings Lane, Dunswell to virtually
any make/model. The new option is limited to Vauxhall (Volvo do one
but getting a fill-up is so restricted as to make it unviable) and such
is the demand that there is a 3-4 month waiting list. Ours cost the
same as a diesel model. A drawback is that the gas tank has to go
somewhere and that is generally in the space usually used for the spare wheel
which has to be stored inside the car. Hence our choice of an estate:
the spare has more room to get lost. We are told that losing the
sparewheel space is the most common reason people give for not wanting an
LPG car. A third option would be to buy a converted second-hand car but
our experience is that they so rare as to be unavailable. If you spot
one, buy it. Presumably, for this reason, ours will hold its resale
value.
The environmental advantages of an LPG car are compelling. Our car's
emissions are 135G/KM which puts it into registration band C. Low, but
not as low as some small engine petrol cars. A gas-guzzling 4x4 can
have emissions of 270G/KM. Our car mechanic tells us that even old LPG
cars have extremely clean engines which belie their age.
A major consideration was the availability of LPG. As we live east of
Hull there is no problem as we are spoilt for choice, especially as
Morrisons, Holderness Road, now sells it. On longer journeys some
preplanning is essential but a website gives uptodate information on
availability and so far we have had no problems travelling to London, Cumbria
and Cornwall. Prices are far more volatile than for petrol and shopping
around is important as there can be a 10p a litre difference. Locally,
the Flogas depot in Beverley undercuts petrol stations significantly.
We have taken the car to France where GPL (LPG) is proportionately more
expensive than in the UK, though still far cheaper than petrol. Also
it was more widely available on French motorways. But beware. An
adaptor is needed for French pumps (£20 +VAT). Moreover this only works in
France - a different adaptor is needed for each country. And we are
all Europeans now!
With tanks of LPG and petrol the car has a range in excess of 600 miles
though we have never needed to use petrol on a long journey. Moving
from one to the other is a flick of a switch on the dash. Even with the
gas switched on the first few minutes of any journey begins on petrol
and the automatic changeover is a barely discernible: like a gearchange
in an automatic car.
Performance is the same as any petrol car though miles per gallon drops
by about 20%. This is more than compensated by the cheapness of LPG.
Running on petrol the car costs about 11p a mile: on LPG about 5-6p
depending on price. The gas part of the engine has to be serviced
separately, once a year or after 15000 miles. This has to be offset against
the other savings. In London the congestion charge is waived for an
annual payment of £10.
An unexpected problem arose over the car's registration documents as it
had been incorrectly registered at source as a petrol car. Even after
we got the DVLA to provide another V5 (aka log book) we noticed that it
still had the emission levels of a petrol car. We now have the correct
documentation but it took us two months of arguing and five visits to
the DVLA office in Beverley to get this put right. During these
negotiations we came upon an outrageous anomaly.
Apparently the emission levels of a car stays with it for life and
cannot be altered. So if an environmentally minded motorist has their
current (petrol) car converted to LPG, with the result that the emissions
level drops dramatically, this cannot be entered on the V5 and there
will be no significant reduction in the licence fee. We are paying £90 a
year for our car only because it was purchased from new as a converted
car. This situation is illogical especially a converted car comes with
a certificate proving its new emission levels.
Nevertheless, we are delighted with the car overall and would urge
people to give thought buying one.
Celia Beckett
