MatSLO
I'm Awesome
My 0.02: with US gasoline prices, I don't think a LPG/CNG conversion it's worth it...
The story is very different in Europe where fuel taxes (on gasoline and diesel) are insane and LPG costs less than half as much as LPG. I don't know if it's cheaper to begin with, or just less taxed.
In my country at the LPG station where I usually fill up, it costs about 62 Euro cents per liter (which is about $ 2.65 US per US gallon if I calculated correctly - similar to US gas price).
LPG conversions are relatively popular for older gasoline powered cars, particularly those with big displacement engines (of course, everything above 2 liters or even above 1.6 is considered "a big engine" here...). But it's not like every old gasoline car gets an LPG conversion, not at all. The cost of conversion is 1000-2000 euro and many such cars are usually worth less than 5000 euros. New gasoline cars, on the other hand, usually have small displacement turbocharged engines and have relatively good fuel economy as it is, and probably few people dare to let a new high-tech car be modified for LPG..
For some reason, almost no new cars are equipped with a LPG system from factory (only Opel, which btw used to be part of GM, offered factory LPG option for some models, I don't know if this is still available).
I have no idea why LPG is not more popular for new cars as factory option. Financial savings can be higher than with a diesel, while the cost of adding LPG system (judging by the price of aftermarket conversions) is similar than difference in new car price for gas vs diesel engine.
There are specialist private shops which perform LPG conversions (I don't think this is something to attempt by yourself) and it's relatively expensive, between 1000 Euro and 2000 Euro (or probably more), depending on quality and how many cylinders you have... And you have to get it certified (and entered in the type approval document of the car).
CNG is rare. I think a few city buses use it. Private car owners go for LPG.
Not all gas stations have LPG, but many do.
I run my 5.7 Vortec on LPG. Lucky for me, its original owner had it converted about 10 years ago, and paid almost 2000 Euro.... Glad this wasn't out of my pocket. Two months ago however, I did have to pay 200+ euros for some regular maintenance but I hope this lasts for a few years more.
The LPG system on my Tahoe works fine, I'm happy with it. The engine always starts on gasoline and automatically switches to LPG when it warms up a little.
BTW, the engine can be run all the time on gasoline if you want - there's a button you press to select either fuel you want the engine to run on..
It runs nice and smooth on LPG just like on gas. I have a feeling that the engine is just slightly "happier" when it runs on gasoline, but this could be just a feeling, I could be just imagining it.
I also don't notice much decrease in engine power output with LPG, if at all.
I do however notice (because this can be measured easily) that fuel mileage is slightly worse on LPG than on gasoline. But who cares when LPG costs less than half as much as gasoline, so one saves a lot of money - the more you drive and the more of a gas hog you have, the bigger the difference. I do about 5-6000 miles a year and very roughly, LPG is saving me about a grand a year in fuel costs.
I have a donut-shaped tank in the place where spare wheel would be. It holds about 70 litres (18-19 US gallons) of LPG. Typical refill costs 35-40 euro and lasts for 300-380 kilometers (190-240 miles).
To sum up: our trucks can run quite well on LPG; but the system must be installed by an experienced professional who knows what he's doing - and that's not cheap. Improper conversion can ruin the engine.
LPG performance shouldn't be affected much compered to gas. Fuel mileage will decrease slightly.
The whole thing makes sense if LPG is significantly cheaper than gasoline (as is the case in Europe).
If I lived in USA, I would stay away from this, despite my good experience with LPG so far.
The story is very different in Europe where fuel taxes (on gasoline and diesel) are insane and LPG costs less than half as much as LPG. I don't know if it's cheaper to begin with, or just less taxed.
In my country at the LPG station where I usually fill up, it costs about 62 Euro cents per liter (which is about $ 2.65 US per US gallon if I calculated correctly - similar to US gas price).
LPG conversions are relatively popular for older gasoline powered cars, particularly those with big displacement engines (of course, everything above 2 liters or even above 1.6 is considered "a big engine" here...). But it's not like every old gasoline car gets an LPG conversion, not at all. The cost of conversion is 1000-2000 euro and many such cars are usually worth less than 5000 euros. New gasoline cars, on the other hand, usually have small displacement turbocharged engines and have relatively good fuel economy as it is, and probably few people dare to let a new high-tech car be modified for LPG..
For some reason, almost no new cars are equipped with a LPG system from factory (only Opel, which btw used to be part of GM, offered factory LPG option for some models, I don't know if this is still available).
I have no idea why LPG is not more popular for new cars as factory option. Financial savings can be higher than with a diesel, while the cost of adding LPG system (judging by the price of aftermarket conversions) is similar than difference in new car price for gas vs diesel engine.
There are specialist private shops which perform LPG conversions (I don't think this is something to attempt by yourself) and it's relatively expensive, between 1000 Euro and 2000 Euro (or probably more), depending on quality and how many cylinders you have... And you have to get it certified (and entered in the type approval document of the car).
CNG is rare. I think a few city buses use it. Private car owners go for LPG.
Not all gas stations have LPG, but many do.
I run my 5.7 Vortec on LPG. Lucky for me, its original owner had it converted about 10 years ago, and paid almost 2000 Euro.... Glad this wasn't out of my pocket. Two months ago however, I did have to pay 200+ euros for some regular maintenance but I hope this lasts for a few years more.
The LPG system on my Tahoe works fine, I'm happy with it. The engine always starts on gasoline and automatically switches to LPG when it warms up a little.
BTW, the engine can be run all the time on gasoline if you want - there's a button you press to select either fuel you want the engine to run on..
It runs nice and smooth on LPG just like on gas. I have a feeling that the engine is just slightly "happier" when it runs on gasoline, but this could be just a feeling, I could be just imagining it.
I also don't notice much decrease in engine power output with LPG, if at all.
I do however notice (because this can be measured easily) that fuel mileage is slightly worse on LPG than on gasoline. But who cares when LPG costs less than half as much as gasoline, so one saves a lot of money - the more you drive and the more of a gas hog you have, the bigger the difference. I do about 5-6000 miles a year and very roughly, LPG is saving me about a grand a year in fuel costs.
I have a donut-shaped tank in the place where spare wheel would be. It holds about 70 litres (18-19 US gallons) of LPG. Typical refill costs 35-40 euro and lasts for 300-380 kilometers (190-240 miles).
To sum up: our trucks can run quite well on LPG; but the system must be installed by an experienced professional who knows what he's doing - and that's not cheap. Improper conversion can ruin the engine.
LPG performance shouldn't be affected much compered to gas. Fuel mileage will decrease slightly.
The whole thing makes sense if LPG is significantly cheaper than gasoline (as is the case in Europe).
If I lived in USA, I would stay away from this, despite my good experience with LPG so far.
