lpg a realistic option ?

RobAMerc

I notice a lot of UK cars are starting to be advertised as having lpg conversion.

Is it readily available on the forecourts here ?

Availability would be my big worry after conversion costs.

Rob

Anan1

It's hardly available anywhere here, and where it is it's not cheap enough to be worthwhile.

Traumadoc

I read somewhere its only 2/3 as efficient in terms of km per liter.

jimogr

Seems there is only one filling station still supplying lpg in Dublin (Sutton):
http://www.ilpga.ie/outlets.htm#Dublin

craichoe

I remember they were all the rage years ago. Kinda fizzled out though.

mumhaabu

LPG isn't realistic unless you buy the car with the conversion already done and live near a station that sells it.

I knew a guy that was an amateur plumber and had rigged up a system wherby he could top up his car with Home Heating LPG Gas (which is akin to using Green Diesel) as there are lower revenue rates. As as has been mentioned it uses 25% less so unless your gas is a complete monster (under 20MPG) it wouldn't be worth converting, you have to take into account your mileage yearly and the conversion cost and Petrol prices.

My local LPG station is 99cent/litre as of my Petrol is 129.9/litre and with the 25% drop off in fuel economy there is only 5cent a litre in comparison and it with the cost of conversion it would never save back what it cost. Plus the added loss of boot space due to the "bomb" in the boot or spare wheel tank.

If you were an eco nut on a farm you could rig up a Aneorbic Digester and have all the free gas you want produced from animal waste. (free fuel, my dream!).

BioEthanol is something more worth looking at imo, although it is far less freely available than LPG. Unless you live in the main cities, plus Oil is coming down it is down to $131 for $147/barrell. My local already dropped a cent yesteray.

cormac_byrne

An LPG powered car would have lower CO2 emissions (20% lower than petrol)

UK alternative fuel cars (e.g. LPG) are exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

I'm wondering if this means UK LPG converted cars have LPG and their new CO2 rating stated on their V5 document.

If so 2008 registered UK LPG cars would qualify for lower VRT & Road Tax when imported here. (even if they spent 99.9% of the time running 20% higher than stated emissions as realistically you can only get petrol here)

I've got a 2005 1.1L Smart forfour which is taxed at €271.

It emits 130 g/km CO2 so I'm annoyed they won't tax it at €150 (Band
converted to LPG (see http://www.greencarco.co.uk/10.html)
It would emit 110g/km CO2, but because it's not 'new' would still not be eligible for the €100 (Band A) road tax.

A truly green policy would reward the conversion but that's a different story.

crosstownk

I'd a 1989 Passat which was converted to LPG. I found it great, tbh. It took up some boot space, but as the boot was large, this wasn't a problem. Converting an '89 Passat is handy enough as the only serious modification involved fitting a mixer on top of the carburettor. However, with more modern engines, it can involve drilling gas injectors into the intake manifold and and adding an LPG ECU between the wiring harness for the manufacturers ECU and calibrating accordingly. It can be done, but it's quite costly. IIRC, back in 1999 it cost in excess of IR£2500 to convert a 1998 1.8 20V Passat to LPG. And as there are no tax incentives, the whole thing is hardly worth while, imo. Plus, the number of outlets selling LPG is close to zero.

ninty9er

http://www.maxol.ie/maxol-bioethanol-e85.html

E85 is quite freely available if you live outside Connacht/Ulster

Tipsy Mac

jimogr wrote: »

Seems there is only one filling station still supplying lpg in Dublin (Sutton):
http://www.ilpga.ie/outlets.htm#Dublin

That station closed nearly two years and there's now 2 houses built over the site. I don't think I have spotted any LPG fuel available in any garage around the country in the past 5 years.

ninty9er

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

That station closed nearly two years and there's now 2 houses built over the site. I don't think I have spotted any LPG fuel available in any garage around the country in the past 5 years.

I'm not sure but I think Texaco on the Dock Road in Limerick sell it. It's been a long time since I pulled in there though.

oostrowski

Hello,

LPG is very common in Europe. The only country it is not popular in is unfortunately Ireland.
I have a car with an LPG conversion and I can easily say - I love it. In my case I do not observe any power decrease as some people claim. This depends on the skills of people working in garage where the car gets converted.
I agree this is not an easy task to find an LPG filling station but it is because people usually did not even hear about an LPG.
Very often I had a situation while I was asking on the petrol station "do they sell autogas..." They were answering, "what is autogas...?"

Maybe I can help you supplying you with addresses of places where you can fill up your car in Dublin area:

- Castle Service Station, Kilmore Road, Dublin 5
- Blakes Cross Service Station, Donabate

There are also other places but they are more far away from Dublin:

http://www.flogas.ie
http://www.calorgas.ie
http://www.ilpga.ie

It is possible that I missed something, but hope you will find this information suitable.

Still there is another story with LPG prices... They are about 75% of a petrol price. My car consumes about 20% LPG more comparing to petrol and it is why it's better to buy a car which has already mounted an LPG conversion.

It is very worth going to Newry (NI) especially for people living closer to NI border. They sell an LPG for just 0.49 £ (0.64 €) !!!!!
If you have a big tank for LPG (more than 50 l) you will save definitely money. And in the same time you can do shopping there and spend a nice time during the weekend.

I had many cars with LPG conversions and I am convinced, LPG is a very good alternative fuel.


Regards!