LPG Conversion

[Normie]

Has anybody converted their car to LPG?
I am seriously considering changing over my car to LPG as my Kia Carnival is a thirsty beast & due to the rising cost of petrol!
Can anyone recommend an installer?
I live in Canberra but we travel to Sydney to visit my folks.

 

[Dan]

Doug is the man to speak to.

I am thinking about doing mine as well. I just have to try and find room for the tank. You get pretty much 1 for 1 in mileage v petrol.

So you will save

 

[Normie]

I read in today's paper that the Gov't may be looking at giving you around $1,000 to convert to LPG. I think you will find that the price goes up as well - the old supply & demand rule!
It is a no brainer when you go to the local servo with Unleaded at $1.48 per litre & LPG at 62c a ltr.....

 

[Matabele]

You would probably get the lowest price of instalation in Victoria as they have had subsidised LPG down there for quite a while.

 

[Dan]

yeah costs about $2600 to be done i think.

it is the boot space i dont want to lose.

you should break even within a year

 

[Matabele]

Don't bet on it.

What do you think will happen to the price of LPG when thousands of motorists jump on the bangwagon and convert?

Howard is being typically disingenious when he say "nothing" can be done about fuel taxes. The media should be crucifying him given that the majority of excise is not a FLAT rate, it is a percentage rate.

So the bastards are raking it in with the higher prices. Best example?

When GST was introduced in 2000 price was around 80c per litre and therefore GST paid on each litre was around 8c.

At the moment it is closer to 14c per litre. You do the maths.

 

[Dan]

you already did the math for us!

 

[Matabele]

The actual cost of a litre of fuel is around 75c at the moment - the rest is tax.

 

[Fluffy]

With the sugar cane industry in Aus we could supply ethanol at a cheaper rate than lpg.

I know the qld goverment have looked into it a little but you would with this would be a great initiative for the feds. Brazil rely on ethanol for their vehicles, it is cleaner burning and doesnt damage a ICE as much durin running.

I feel LPG costs will go up with increased demand but not to petrol prices, you should still recouperate the costs with a couple of years depending on your vehicle size and thirst. Power for lpg is around 90% compared to petrol, hence you get about 90% of the mileage

 

[clontaago]

OK Goldie to dispel a few myths and provide some real info.

Mata - The only state to provide subsidies for LPG conversions is WA. NONE of the other states do as yet, this may change today.

LPG:

Cost of a decent conversion = $2500-3000
You use about a 1/3rd more LPG than Petrol
Excise is due to be introduced in 2011. This will be introuced over 5 years at 2.5c per year, reaching 12.5 cents (cappeed). So effectively LPG excise will be 12.5 cpl by 2016.

There is a calculator on our website which will help you.
http://www.unigas.com.au/pages/calculator.html

 

[clontaago]

Again Fluffy,. you do not know what you are on about. In the new LPG systems power loss is nil. Power loss has nothing to do with the mileage difference between LPG and Petorl. It is how they are consumed that makes LPG use slightly higher the Petrol.

 

[Dan]

man if I had a bigger boot I would do it!

 

[Matabele]

OK Goldie to dispel a few myths and provide some real info.

Mata - The only state to provide subsidies for LPG conversions is WA. NONE of the other states do as yet, this may change today.

I wasn't talking about subsidies for installation. Simply that Victoria have a policy that means LPG is cheaper than in other states and is therefore more entrenched. Thus the costs of installation might be less as there are more places able to do it and supply/demand rules apply.

 

[clontaago]

Incorrect again Mata. LPG prices are not subsidised in VIC. The reason prices are lower here is because we have greater demand and always have had, we also have the largest number of supply points in VIC.

 

[clontaago]

Does the Government support LPG Autogas?
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The ACT Government provides a 20% discount on the registration fee of privately registered vehicles if they are fitted with an approved LPG Autogas system.
The WA Government provides a $1000 subsidy to private motorists for fitment of an LPG autogas system to their vehicles. Visit the WA Government Department of Planning and Infrastructure web site www.dpi.wa.gov.au or CLICK HERE to go directly to the subsidy page.

Last year the Federal Government announced Autogas would remain excise-free until 2011. Even after that date, excise will be gradually applied in annual increments of 2.5 cents per litre until it reaches a ceiling of 12.5 cents per litre in 2015.In comparison, the current excise on petrol in 38.1 cents per litre.

To offset the excise, from July 1st, 2011 until June 30th, 2014 the Federal Government will pay a $1,000 rebate to motorists who purchase a new Autogas-powered vehicle.

 

[clontaago]

Its official.

The deal is $1000 off a new Ford with dedicated gas, or $2000 of conversion of an used vehicle.

 

[Matabele]

I stand corrected Clon. I just know that it is far easier to source a gas car in Vic than elsewhere so assumed there must be a subsidy on gas.

 

[clontaago]

Not sure why but VIC has always led the way, maybe we are just tightarses.

 

[Normie]

Just found out that I am unable to put LPG into my Kia Carnival (
Looks like I will be paying high petrol prices for a long time to come :wall:

 

[Fluffy]

Again Fluffy,. you do not know what you are on about. In the new LPG systems power loss is nil. Power loss has nothing to do with the mileage difference between LPG and Petorl. It is how they are consumed that makes LPG use slightly higher the Petrol.

From NRMA website

"Ford’s 4.0 litre E-Gas engine in the Falcon is LPG only. It produces significantly less power than the petrol engine – 152 kW compared with 190 kW – and marginally less torque (374 Nm vs 383 Nm.)"

I did not say it was huge but i do have a slight idea on what im talking about.

There are numerous factors to fuel consumption and power output
Basically lpg is mainly butane and propane (shorter hydrocarbons) where as petrol consists of hydrocarbons ranging from c5 to c10 thus there is more atoms available to react per molecule

the enthalpy of combustion for lpg is around 2000 - 3000 where petrol is far higer at 4000+ kJ per mole.

This isnt the only factor but it plays a big part