L.P.G. will help U.K. motorists

Press, 25 June 1979, Page 9

L.P.G. will help U.K. motorists

By

KEN COATES

in Loin

aon With petrol costing $2.10 or more a gallon, Britons are looking closer at a way to refuel their cars at half the costThe alternative is liquified propane gas, and in two weeks time the country’s first specialist conversion centre, open to the public will begin business 30 miles from central London, at Sandhurst, Berkshire. Motorists are told that L.P.G. costs 63p a gallon, and its use means a slightly lower top speed, marginally fewer miles per gallon, some loss of space in the boot and a heavy initial outlay, Howh ever, supplies of L.P.G, are plentiful and a growing number of motorists are being tempted to change. For the last two years, the Volvo dealers, Berdan and Co., have been converting customers’ cars to run, at the flick of a switch, on petrol or L.P.G.

Dearer, scarcer petrol has sharply increased demand for these dual-fuel conversions. They are up from one a week, to three and increasing.

The company will open

its specialist conversion centre at Sandhurst on July 2. Another is planned for Fleet, in Hampshire, later in the year, and others in southern England are likely to followThe cost of conversion is £3lO (about SNZ62O) for a Ford Fiesta, £368 (SNZ74O) for a larger car like a Volvo 244, and more than £4OO ($NZ800) for a Rolls-Royce. The average car will do around 8 per cent fewer miles to the gallon of L.P.G. than petrol, and the top speed suffers a little.

A Ford Fiesta owner, it has been calculated, would save £llB (SNZ236) a year on fuel bills using L.P.G, Within three years, his initial outlay could be recouped, arid from then on running costs would be much lower. L.P.G. is available from almost 150 retail points across Britain, mostly at petrol stations, and six in the London area. L.P.G. is cleaner, less polluting and gives better cold starting than petrol, and is no more hazardous.

In Europe, there are already about 10,000 Volvos running on L.P.G. converted with Dutch equipment which has Volvo appro' d.