LPG proves it can still offers environmental benefits and cost saving

Running a car on LPG could save you around 40 per cent on your annual fuel bill and could cut CO2 emissions by around 11 per cent, new data proves.

New evidence taken from an extensive database of LPG vehicle testing, supplied by car manufacturers to the German government, was presented by Dr Eric Johnson of Atlantic Consulting, as part of the World LP Gas Forum in London, which was held in the UK for the first time.

What's even better is that there is plenty of scope to improve LPG cars in a short time, because industry efforts have focused on improving the performance of petrol and diesel models.

In recent years, cars powered by LPG -also known as Autogas-have fallen out of the spotlight as other alternatives including hybrid and electric models arrived in the UK.

Particularly in the UK, there has been little interest from carmakers to offer showroom-ready LPG cars, while in mainland Europe there is more than 20 manufacturers offering LPG ready cars.

Despite this, there are some 160,000 vehicles in the UK which run on Autogas LPG, most of which are converted models, with an estimated 12,000 cars being converted in the aftermarket each year to run on the cheaper, cleaner fuel.

“We’ve generally known that Autogas LPG is lower carbon than petrol, but this recent evidence proves it conclusively.

“Indeed, what had been a trickle of automotive emissions data has now turned into a flood in recent years, which will surely give further support of the benefits of using Autogas LPG and driving a bi-fuelled car.

“This evidence from Germany is conclusive proof that Autogas LPG really does emit 11 per cent less CO2 than petrol from the tailpipe, and about 15 per cent less over its entire lifetime, from ‘well to wheel’, so has less environmental impact,” said Dr Johnson. Read more here.