Large rises in the price of petrol and diesel have led to many motorists seeking ways to reduce their expenditure on fuel, and converting to an alternative fuel is one method of doing this. However, while most of the media attention has focused on biofuels over the last five years, there are a number of reasons why liquefied petroleum gas could see its popularity increase.

With historically high petrol and diesel prices, motorists are seeing ever increasing proportions of their income spent on fuel. Industry commentators have drawn attention to a diverse range of measures that motorists can take to reduce this expenditure. These include keeping tires inflated to the correct levels, driving at a slower speed, participating in car shares and switching to an alternative fuel.

This latter option can provide significant savings. To date, biofuels have attracted more interest than other alternatives and they now make up around 2% of total EU road fuel. In Germany and Sweden, biofuels account for a substantial proportion of all road fuel sold, representing 6.6% and 4.1% of all road fuel in energy terms, respectively. 

However, although biofuels are arguably less damaging to the environment than fossil fuels, they tend to be more expensive. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), on the other hand, has been attracting growing media coverage due to its favorable price, in comparison with fossil fuels. Indeed, in the UK it can offer reductions of up to 40% compared to regular petrol and diesel.

Despite the lower costs, the number of cars using LPG across Europe remains minimal. In the majority of European markets, LPG vehicles account for significantly less than 1% of the car parc. Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands are the main exceptions, with LPG vehicles representing 16%, 4% and 3% of the total vehicle parc, respectively.

Critics in the UK have pointed out that although running a car on LPG can offer significant savings, the fuel is only sold at 1,300 of the country's petrol stations, which is 13% of the total fuel retailing network. Furthermore, the cost of converting a car to run on LPG can be upwards of GBP2,000 (approximately 2,500).

However, it should be noted that LPG fares well in comparison to other alternatives, including compressed natural gas (CNG) and high blends of biofuels, such as E85. In terms of availability, in the UK there are only 15 public CNG filling stations and 20 E85 flex-fuel (a mixture of bioethanol and petrol) filling sites. Furthermore, given the current high price of fossil fuels, the conversion cost for LPG is no longer as prohibitive as it may first appear. For example, if a driver were to spend GBP500 (approximately 400) per month, the cost of the conversion would be recouped after 10 months.

In essence, despite the current high petrol prices there are ways in which motorists can substantially reduce their expenditure on fuel. Although government and media emphasis has focused on biofuels over the last five years, LPG could soon gain some of the limelight.

Source: RedOrbit science magazine