Autogas
Autogas is liquefied petroleum gas used as a fuel in internal combustion engines of vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane.
Autogas is widely used as a "green" fuel, as its use reduces exhaust emissions by around 15% compared to petrol. One litre of petrol produces 2.3 kg of when burnt, whereas the equivalent amount of autogas produces 2 kg of when burnt. CO emissions are 30% lower compared to petrol, and is reduced by 50%. It has an octane rating that is between 90 and 110 and an energy content that is between 25.5 megajoules per litre and 28.7 megajoules per litre depending upon the actual fuel composition.
Autogas is the fourth most popular automotive fuel in the world, with approximately 27.8 million of 1.47 billion passenger cars powered using the fuel; this represents less than 2% of the total market share. Approximately half of all autogas-fueled passenger vehicles are in its five largest markets : Turkey, Russia, South Korea, Poland, and Ukraine.
Terminology variations and confusion
In countries where petroleum spirits is called petrol rather than gasoline, it is common for autogas to be simply referred to as gas. This can be confusing for people from countries where petrol is called gasoline, as they often use gas as an abbreviation of gasoline.In the United States, autogas is more commonly known under the name of its primary constituent, propane. In 2010 the Propane Education and Research Council adopted the term "Propane Autogas" to refer to LPG used in on-road motor vehicles.
In the UK the terms LPG and autogas are used interchangeably. In Australia and the Netherlands, the common term is LPG. In Italy and France, GPL is used. In Spain the term GLP is used.
In Asian countries, particularly those with historical American influences, such as the Philippines, the term autogas is not commonly recognised as a generic term, and the use of the terms LPG or autoLPG is more widely used by consumers, especially by taxi drivers, many of whom use converted vehicles. The converted vehicles are commonly called LPG vehicles or LPG cars.
Difficulties with LPG as automotive fuel
Despite LPG being widely used as a fuel for cars, motorists in need of autogas can sometimes face difficulties, especially in remote areas and in places where supply and demand are low. Therefore, they may need to plan their journeys around access to stations where LPG can reliably be obtained. Some autogas fuel-systems handle this with parallel autogas and petrol mechanisms in vehicles – allowing either autogas or petrol to be used at any given time.History
s fuelled by gases date from at least 1823 with the work of Samuel Brown in London. By 1935 Hanover had an autogas station,and a trial run took place with trucks travelling between Moscow and Leningrad in the same year. Initial use depended largely on the types of different/alternative fuels available and on their cost. More widespread application of autogas in transport systems came in the 1970s, especially for taxis
and buses.
Vehicle manufacturers
made a number of LPG-only engines in their 1970s M, R, and Y engine families.Holden Special Vehicles offered bi-fuel models; however, the vehicles use a different system from that of their donor vehicles from Holden, with HSV using technology from Orbital Autogas Systems, which injects the autogas into the engine as a liquid instead of a gas for increased efficiency. Beginning in 2011, Holden's Commodore range was offered as a dedicated LPG vehicle, with an aluminium fuel tank in place of the petrol tank.
Petrol engined cars, trucks and buses which have not been fitted with LPG/autogas systems by the manufacturers can usually accept third party systems to enable them to use either LPG or petrol. ROUSH CleanTech manufactures designs, engineers, manufactures and installs propane autogas fuel systems for medium-duty Ford commercial vehicles and Type A and Type C Blue Bird school buses.
Vialle manufacture OEM LPG powered scooters and LPG powered mopeds that run equally well on LPG. Ford Australia have offered an LPG-only variant of their Falcon model since 2000.
Countries
Autogas enjoys great popularity in numerous countries and territories, including: Australia, the European Union, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, Northern Macedonia, South Korea, Serbia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. It is also available at larger petrol stations in several countries. In Armenia, for example, the transport ministry estimates as many as 20 to 30% of vehicles use autogas, because it offers a very cheap alternative to both diesel and petrol, being less than half the price of petrol and some 40% cheaper than diesel. The recent rises in oil-derived fuel prices has significantly increased the difference.Algeria
Since the 1980s, the Algerian government has pursued a policy to promote the use of autogas in Algeria. The two main incentives for the government to put this policy into action were to take advantage of the large LPG production and to reduce urban pollution. At the end of 2019, there were approximately 500,000 autogas-powered vehicles on the roads, supported by over 1000 refuelling stations.The Algerian government fixes the prices of all automotive fuels. Autogas is priced in Algeria at 61% of the price of diesel, making it an affordable option.
Australia
LPG was popular in Australia, because it was less than half the price of petrol in urban areas, and it is locally produced.The popularity of automotive LPG is declining, as more motorists purchase hybrid-electric cars. local car manufacturing that offered LPG as a factory option ceased, and a federal government excise on LPG commenced in 2011 making the fuel more expensive.
The two major local manufacturers,, when they used to manufacture cars in Australia, had offered factory fitted autogas in some models of their locally made large cars and commercial vehicles. Mitsubishi Australia formerly manufactured factory-fitted autogas vehicles locally but ceased manufacturing in 2008. All factory autogas vehicles, with the exception of the E-Gas Ford Falcon model, were bi-fuel vehicles, meaning they have the capability to run on either petrol, autogas, or a combination.
Holden Special Vehicles offered a different autogas system from its parent, Holden, that injects the autogas into the engine as a liquid, allowing for higher efficiency.
All Ford LPG vehicles that were locally made used liquid injected LPG and developed 3 kW more than the petrol equivalent.
There are approximately 310,000 autogas-powered cars on Australia's roads. The number of LPG/Dual fuel vehicles continues to decrease, falling by 34.2% between 2013 and 2018. Over the same period, the number of registered electric vehicles increased by 159.2% to 8,334.
There has been a corresponding reduction in the number of LPG refuelling locations – less than 2,900 in 2018, down from 3,500 several years prior.
Whilst historically autogas was excise-free, it began being imposed on all vehicle fuels that were not previously subject to excise in 2011 and was added incrementally up to 2015. The excise on autogas started at 2.5 cents per litre in 2011 and reached 12.5 cents per litre in 2015. By comparison, the excise on petrol remained at its existing 38 cents per litre. The additional excise on autogas is offset somewhat by a subsidy that was implemented in 2006 for private motorists, paying either to convert their existing vehicle to autogas, or for purchasing a new vehicle that was manufactured to operate on autogas. The subsidy does not apply to business vehicles or vehicles with a gross vehicle mass of over 3,500 kilograms. In addition to the subsidy provided by the Australian federal government, the Western Australian government also provides a subsidy under the long-running LPG subsidy scheme.
Belgium
The use of autogas was once very popular in Belgium, thanks to the subsidies given by the government to install conversion kits. Since, 2003, when the subsidies disappeared, the number of cars running on LPG has decreased and the number of cars running on diesel has increased. This was partly due to the tax incentives to purchase diesel cars. In recent years, the use of autogas as a vehicle fuel has accounted for less than 2% of vehicle fuel use in Belgium. At the end of 2003, there was an estimate of 93,000 autogas-powered vehicles on Belgium, supported by 600 refuelling stations. In 2010 there were 33,482 cars equipped with LPG and in 2012 it went down to 22,265. Since 2012 there has been a slight increase in the number of autogas-powered vehicles of around 14%. This increase is mainly due to the phasing-out of the tax incentives to buy diesel cars. The number of refuelling stations equipped with LPG has increased and in 2012 there were 727 stations.In Belgium, autogas is totally free of excises, but not of VAT., the price of a litre of autogas is around a third of the price of a litre of diesel, making it the cheapest car fuel available in Belgium. This is a strong incentive for cross-border LPG refuelling traffic with neighbouring countries, especially with France, where LPG is much more expensive.
To compensate for the loss of tax revenue, Belgian cars equipped with LPG pay a higher road tax than petrol or compressed natural gas cars. In a Government's effort to incentivate the use of LPG cars, the registration tax paid by LPG cars is lower than the registration tax of CNG, petrol and diesel cars because. Thus since 2013, brand-new LPG cars benefit from an important reduction in registration duty.
Despite the fact that autogas is excise free in Belgium, it is the cheapest car fuel in Belgium and that it enjoys an important reduction in registration duty, autogas has never reached again the levels of use that it once had in the 1990s. Belgium does not provide with subsidies for LPG or CNG car installations. The current subsidies provided to CNG car installations since 2014 are provided by the natural gas private industry.
Since 2013, OPEL is the only distributor that still sells brand-new factory-installed LPG cars in Belgium.