14 Aug 08
LPG: popularity increasing
At 57p a litre, LPG is the way to go
Suddenly, Britain's motorists are cooking with gas again. Three years ago and autogas, aka LPG, had all but died a death, but it's amazing what sky-high fuel prices will do. Now the half-price fuel is experiencing a renaissance and car conversions are once again the talk of the forecourt.
'We've more than doubled the turnover in one year,' says Noel Lock, director of Bath-based LPG convertors The Greenfuel Company. 'We've had moments when we've been inundated with sales and that's a bit a startling for us. May was a record month, June was a record month, July was a record month, and August is looking good too.'
Bottles of LPG
LPG, or liquid petroleum gas, is the same stuff as comes in the red Calor bottles. Compressed, it becomes liquefied and so can be pumped to use as a road fuel. Its chief attraction for today's cash-conscious motorists is the low duty, pricing it at exactly half that regular petrol, currently around 57p a litre.
The reason for the reduction is even more appropriate for the times: running on LPG produces around 15% less CO2 compared to petrol, as well as reducing harmful local pollutants.
Sounds good - but before you go running for the classifieds, there's a few things you'll need to know.
