[NeilV]

Hi all, we've been looking into the advantages of autogas since we arrived back from a 3 month euro tour a couple months ago. NZ seems to have stations that supply it, but just wondering if it rates feasable there or not?

Ta :p

[StevieD]

Don;t know about down there, (not there yet!!) but dual fuel cars are becoming increasingly popular in the uk - could be due to the fact that it is half the price of petrol.

Just wait until enough cars are using it and then notice the price hike due to "green taxes" or some other excuse.

I don't think there are any performance issues regarding the use of this fuel. If you can get it go for it.

Steve

[Trigirl]

Just wait until enough cars are using it and then notice the price hike due to "green taxes" or some other excuse.

LOL! You are such a cynic Steve!!!

[Brijan]

Hi
The police run some of their cars on LPG and i havent noticed them having a lack of performance when chasing someone, :laugh its a bit cheaper than petrol too
Brian

[NeilV]

How easily available is it? anyone see this advertised on their local routes?

[wiki]

Even when I lived in NZ nine years ago, there were a lot of places to get LPG and a lot of taxi drivers converted their cars over (and this was in Invercargill, so not big smoke)

This is just a BP site but it has all the LPG outlets across the country - not a bad selection, but I think if you were going on a long drive you'd have to work out where and when you'd need to fill up in advance.

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9013652&contentId=7026552

I'm sure Mobil, Shell and the other petrol station brands that have slipped my mind have LPG too

[NeilV]

Thanks :nice1

[Super_BQ]

Like petro & diesel, LPG is also another competing energy source. When you factor the cost of conversion of petro motors with LPG hardware ($3000 - $4000), you'll find that it's not a savings at all. The real benefit of LPG is that it burns cleaner for the environment. But to your pocket book, well there's too many things against LPG - otherwise you'd see EVERYONE going for it. Remember, a litre of petro produces far more energy than a litre of LPG - watt for watt. Not to mention LPG tanks are relatively small compared to the distance one can drive with petro.

Same arguement can be said with diesel. Though at the pump they appear to be priced a lot less than petro per litre, don't forget the car owner has to pay for every KM driven when they to register their car. It can vary but I think it's roughly 2.5 cents per KM. The savings would be very little if at all any - otherwise we will be seeing far more diesel running cars than ever.

Another silly issue regarding dual fuel cars is why does the US promote corn based ethanol while in Brazil they're based on Sugar based ethanol which produced like 6 times more energy and costs less to produce? It would be a miracle to see the US get off from the dependancy of Middle East oil and import (or support) sugar based ethanol from poorer developing countries like in S. America? Blame those corn growing lobbyists in the US.

BQ

[*Paul]

I have a small diesel SUV and in my Excel mileage spreadsheet I calculate the equivalent price per litre when Road Users Charges are rolled in. For my 2.0 litre engine diesel fuel works out to be about the same price as petrol so the additional operating economy is purely dependant on the 25% or so better fuel mileage.