Several different fuels are currently being proposed as alternatives to gasoline and fossil fuel diesel. These include: electricity, hybrids, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, and others.
LPG – Liquefied Petroleum Gas
LPG is a mixture of butane and propane gas as a by-product of gasoline or natural gas production. Either way, it is a derivative of fossil reserves.
Advantages of LPG
The advantages of cars that use LPG are that it is approximately 50% cheaper than gasoline at pumps in the UK and Ireland. Also, due to the cheaper taxes for LPG in the UK and Ireland, it is cheaper to operate.
Disadvantages of LPG
LPG comes from finite natural gas resources or finite crude oil reserves. A lot of energy is used to produce the gas. LPG is less efficient and produces fewer miles per gallon than gasoline or diesel. There are currently no cars available in the UK or Ireland that are designed for LPG. To use LPG in a car you have to go through an expensive conversion costing around £ 2000.
Is LPG easy to access?
It is more available than other alternative fuels, but it is still limited.
What about the cost?
If the price of gasoline is £ 1 per liter and LPG is £ 0.50, then you will have to drive more than 60,000 miles before recovering the cost of the conversion. There is a high cost of production, you can use less fossil fuels than gasoline but more than most other alternative fuel sources. The running costs are about 20% lower than a gasoline car, but it is only suitable for smaller vehicles.
So are LPG cars the answer to conserving fossil fuels and the environment? Not at this point, since they use more fossil fuels than other alternatives and the low-consumption Volkswagen Polo or Citroen C2 are more efficient and profitable.