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LPG Conversion
wicket - 19/8/05 at 05:19 PM

My son does a lot of business miles in his van and is considering buying a petrol van and having an LPG conversion. Anybody had any experience and any recommendations in the south east for people doing conversions ?


Stuart Ainslie - 19/8/05 at 05:28 PM

I've got my car converted to LPG.

I used Medway Dual Fuel in Kent - Speak to Graham or Neil.

They sold me the full kit that I then installed my self, took it back to them and they inspected, set-up and issued an LPGA certificate.

Saves me bundles of cash - paying around 34 - 40p per litre


albertz - 20/8/05 at 07:54 AM

What sort of annual mileage do you need to cover to make this viable?

Where i live the petrol prices are extortionate (cant remember exactly but about 96p per litre of unleaded). I am not sure about the availability of LPG up here though.

Approximetly what are the initial costs and what are the drawbacks of changing?


Stuart Ainslie - 20/8/05 at 08:25 AM

I commute from home to London and back daily - about 150 miles. I think you would need to look at doing a fair number of miles per year or keep the car a few years, but that also applies to a diesel car over petrol.

For Autogas availabilty, try here -


Clicky...

For my car, a fully sequential injection system with a 60 litre toroidal tank supplied for me to fit cost just over £600 and then another £130 to have it inspected, set-up and an LPGA certificate provided.

I can find no drawbacks of having the system fitted - I'm getting the equivalent of 90mpg compared to a petrol or diesel equivalent, engine runs smoother too...
You get a tiny loss in power due to the lower calorific value of LPG and your mpg drops by a small amount too.

It's cut my weekly fuel bill by half....

quote:
Originally posted by albertz
What sort of annual mileage do you need to cover to make this viable?

Where i live the petrol prices are extortionate (cant remember exactly but about 96p per litre of unleaded). I am not sure about the availability of LPG up here though.

Approximetly what are the initial costs and what are the drawbacks of changing?


sinky - 11/11/05 at 10:24 PM

Albertz, hi mate.

Are you thinking of converting any of your vehicles to LPG? The Elm Tree sells it and I think the conversion costs £1500ish. From what I can gather you can expect to half your fuel bills. Tanya's dad runs his Shogun on gas and has ran Range Rover V8s on it previously, he cerainly seems pleased with it. The only worry I would have was when it came to resale time. Lots of people wont touch gas converted cars as they are unsure/wary about.


matt_claydon - 12/11/05 at 09:59 AM

Does anyone know what the status of the tax freeze on LPG is? The only reason it's so cheap is that it's not taxed much and the government promised a few years back not to change that for x years. I think x years is now nearly up and was wondering if there's been any news?

Cheers,
Matt.


Stuart Ainslie - 12/11/05 at 10:30 AM

I believe there is still a couple of years left on the government tax freeze but that doesn't stop the garages putting their prices up to mqke up for the rises in petrol and diesel

I've seen my LPG prices rise over the last few months from 29.9 to 39.9 per litre