Bristol Evening Post

Amidst the bio-diesels, sulphur-free petrols and hydrogen fuel cells being developed to replace petrol engines, a 30-year-old invention is finally emerging as the biggest rival to petrol.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a mixture of mainly butane and propane.

A by-product of oil refining, it is also found as an associated gas in natural gas or methane fields.

It is often used bottled for cooking and heating where there is no natural gas pipeline nearby, but LPG is also increasingly being used to power up cars and vans in a more environmentally friendly way.

Vehicles can be set up to run either as 'dedicated' vehicles which have LPG as their only fuel or in hybrid 'bifuel' engines, which allow to change from unleaded petrol to LPG at the flick of a button.

Some UK manufacturers are now offering bi-fuel vehicles as standard products and most car manufacturers have LPG models as part of their range.

There are nearly 1,300 sites around the country offering LPG refilling points, including eight in the Bristol area, and their number is rising.

Some of the sites in Bristol include Andy's Gas in Cribbs Causeway, BPWinterbourne Filling Station, Bristol Calor Centre in St Philips and Autogas Ltd in Cribbs Causeway.

But despite the increased number of both LPG users and facilities - estimates from the Department for Transport put the number of LPG motorists at 60,000 nationwide - enthusiasts and developers want more to be done to spread the use of what they see as the fuel of the future.

Andrew Forsey, manager of Sponge Cars / Andrew Forsey Financial Services, a national LPG specialist, based in Greenleaze, Knowle Park, said it was down to the Government to make LPG more accessible.

He said: "There is nothing wrong at all with LPG. It's cheaper than petrol, doesn't affect performance and is environmentally friendly. If you want to save money and save the planet go for LPG.

"A couple of years ago, it was LPG nowhere. Now Cherie Blair is driving an LPG car, and the entire Royal Household fleet is running on LPG.

"Things are changing but not fast enough. It seems that the Government doesn't want it to happen because of the lack of taxes.

They can't make money out of it.

"LPG doesn't have any disadvantages but the British Government is not showing the same interest as others like Hong Kong, Spain or Cyprus have done."

A litre of LPG costs an average of 37.9p compared with 74.9p for a litre of petrol, that is a difference in price of up to 65 per cent.

LPG enthusiasts believe that the cost of converting a petrol engine to an hybrid one can easy be met by the savings made at the pump.

It costs between £995 to £1995 to convert depending on the model of the car.

Most hybrid conversions will run on LPG most of the time and only switch to petrol when failing to find a filling station within its range.

The conversion of a petrol engine, having spark ignition, is relatively simple and low cost.

Converting a diesel engine however requires more fundamental and expensive modifications to the engine but can still be done.

In all cases, gas will be stored on the vehicle in special fuel tanks. It will then be piped to the engine.

Government officials deny not doing enough to encourage the use of greener fuels.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said that Whitehall was aiming for one in ten cars to have low carbon emissions within the next decade.

She said that The Department for Transport, DTI, DEFRA and the Treasury were working together on a new Powering Future Vehicles Strategy to encourage local authorities, bus companies and car manufacturers to switch to lowcarbon and cleaner fuels.

Launching the Strategy two months ago (July 31), Transport minister David Jamieson said: "Road transport is responsible for 22 per cent of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.We must tackle this. This strategy establishes Britain as a leader in the global shift to a lowcarbon transport economy and in doing so builds competitive advantage for our automotive industries."

Away from Government rhetoric, an independent action group is now encouraging motorists to change to cleaner fuels with cash incentives when they choose the LPG option.

Geared towards companies with large fleets of vans and cars, the Powershift grants offered by the Energy Saving Trust, an independent body working in collaboration with the Government, can save motorists up to 70 per cent of any additional LPG costs.

Penny Andrews, a spokeswoman for the Trust's Transport Action group, said that motorists could receive a grant to help save them money when they convert to LPG or when they buy a new car, providing the changes are made by the Trust's accredited garages and the new cars are picked from its own range list.

Kevin Delaney, traffic manager at the RAC Foundation however believes that despite LPG being one of the greener fuels options currently available, it did not offer any long term solution.

He said that the key to cleaner cars was in the Government's hands and only the Government could bring out financial incentives for manufacturers and motorists to use sulphur-free petrol, bio-diesel, gas, or hydrogen engines.

Mr Delaney said: "Two years ago the RAC Foundation teamed up with Greenpeace to campaign for greater incentives for greener fuels.

"LPG is one of them, but things are moving on already. LPG is only a short term measure. The long term solution lies in hydrogen engines or hydrogen fuel cells.

"Once it is economical for all to use, everyone will make the switch. It just depends on what sort of tax breaks the Government is ready to offer.

"All the alternatives such a LPG are options that will carry us through the next 20 years, but hydrogen engines really are the future."

Mr Delaney however argued that whatever was done to sort out the pollution problem, cities would remain congested, though less polluted, as the number of car owners was expected to rise steeply in the next 20 years.

He said: "Cars are becoming cheaper to buy, so a whole range of often younger people who could not afford them, are now buying one.

"People also live longer which means they drive longer.

"We can have cleaner cars, but it won't stop our cities being congested."

This is Bristol Magazine

There is a fuel out there that costs less than half the amount of either petrol or diesel as well as doing less damage to the environment...so why aren't we all using this cleaner, cheaper fuel in our cars? There are several reasons why not at the moment.

Firstly, manufacturers put petrol or diesel engines into their cars so if you want to run on LPG you'll have to have a conversion. That costs around £1,500 and, although you'd soon recoup that money, it's a hefty outlay. You may, however, qualify for a Powershift grant to further reduce the cost of conversion.

Secondly, LPG has been notoriously hard to find on the forecourts, a problem that's put many off. This is less of a problem now, and LPG-converted cars can run on petrol anyway, so there really is no problem.

There are now several company's promoting the use of LPG and some manufacturers offering fully converted cars from new.

There can be few companies, however, so fully committed to the process as Bristol's SpongeCars.

The company, which sells the converted cars on it's website...can supply LPG cars from just £4,999 on the road, as well as offering a full conversion service for those wanting to take the plunge.

You can either drop in to the award-winning website for a full explanation of what's involved as well as a full list of cars currently available, or you can phone 0117 967 0444 for a chat.



West Country Business Express

There cannot be another company that is as committed to promoting the use of LPG as Bristol's SpongeCars.

Recently SpongeCars have been working with one of Europe's largest LPG providers to convert eleven 7 and a half tonne lorries to LPG. This is something that has never been done before, (indeed many thought it simply could not be done), however together the two companies have created a process by which a successful conversion is possible. Next month will see the eleven lorries in the UK, launching a new era of LPG which has the potential to transform the transport industry, providing significant cost savings, and of course bringing about considerable benefits to the environment.

SpongeCars will also be offering the first Daewoo Matiz to be converted to LPG.

SpongeCars is a company at the very forefront of the LPG revolution; to see for yourself just what the company has to offer, you can access their award winning website which contains a full explanation of what is involved, as well as a comprehensive list of the cars that are currently available.