L.P.G. interest builds

Press, 15 June 1979, Page 1

L.P.G. interest builds

Running the car on “gas” will be more than just a slang expression for some Christchurch motorists in the next few weeks.

About 30 persons have answered an advertisement placed by the Wharenui Garage, urging motorists to convert their vehicles to run on liquefied petroleum gas.

Mr P. Bastion, the manager of the garage, is shown above looking at his own car, a Valiant, that has been converted to run on L.P.G. The conversion consists of installing an L.P.G. tank in the boot of the car. The cost ranges between $950 and $lO5O, depending on the size of the car. Small cars are fitted with a 45-litre tank, a metre long and about 32 cm wide. Bigger cars can be fitted with a 65litre tank, about 15 cm longer.

Mr Bastion said that vehicles would lose about

10 per cent in mileage on the new fuel, but they would gain in power-to-weight ratio, as L.P.G. was about half the weight of petrol. New equipment coming from the United States would improve the mileage a motorist could achieve with L.P.G., he said.

Supplies of L.P.G. have been irregular recently, but Mr Bastion said he was hopeful that once the seamen’s dispute was. settled supplies should be more stable.

At present, the garage sells L.P.G. at 38c a litre ($1.70 a gallon), which is marginally cheaper than petrol at 38.6 c a litre ($1.75 a gallon). Mr Bastion noted that L.P.G. sells for half this price in the North Island. If Government assur-

ances of a national price for L.P.G. were honoured, then North Islanders could expect to pay more for the fuel, he said. Cars that have L.P.G. tanks installed at the garage are fitted with a dual-fuel system, allowing them to be run on petrol as well, simply by flicking a switch on the dashboard. Most inquiries for conversions so far have come from private motorists, plus a few from companies.

However, one company that was considering converting its fleet to L.P.G. has abandoned the idea for the present, at least. Blue Star Taxis considered the supply of L.P.G. too erratic, and its price too high to justify spending $200,000 installing L.P.G.

services, said the firm’s manager (Mr K. Murphy).

In his advertisement, Mr Bastion lists six “benefits’’ of converting to L.P.G. They include trebling the engine life, which Mr Bastion explains by saying that L.P.G., as a dry fuel, does not wear down the -bore in the engine: petrol, a wet fuel, washes oil from the bore, allowing wear. Fork-lifts, converted to L.P.G. in the United States, had recorded vehicles running 14 times longer than they had on petrol before requiring an overhaul.

Other benefits listed include improved vehicle performance, increased spark plug life, reduced poisonous emissions, and protection against fuelpilferers.