Interesting. Thanks for sharing this story. I have had thoughts in the back of my mind about eventually doing this. Is this a really expensive thing to do? Please pardon my ignorance, but is LPG the same as Natural Gas? Because apparently we are loaded to the gills with Natural Gas over here, so that would be a plus.

 

It is not that expensive no, I calculated that with the prices of petrol vs LPG, the increased mpg and the cost of installing it, I would break-even at around 27.000km or 16.777miles.

Personally I paid 1500 euro for everything, but prices can vary strongly per country and brand. This was in Greece, ironically the same system in Holland (where it is from) costs 3000 euro to install. This has to do with taxes, hourly rates etc. Product is of course the same and I have european coverage from Prins.

I chose Prins, as my father is a teacher in car mechanics and he chose himself also for the Prins system in his previous audi TT. Trusting he knew what he did I went for Prins however there are more proper systems out there.
Careful that you buy quality though as you can get deals for as low as 500 euro, however I would not risk these unknown brands.

To answer your question regarding Natural Gas vs LPG, I believe it is something quite different. Natural gas has a much lower energy density and as far as I am aware is not used for cars.
LPG is made by refining petroleum whereas natural gas is actually natural.

I did it as it was a 1 time investment, now I pay 25-30 euro per fill up, compared to 80+ for petrol.

 

This is interesting. LPG conversions are propane if I recall. How often do you find yourself filling up? And how big is the tank?

Sent from my Galaxy S III using Autoguide. Please excuse my spelling.

 

I've picked up bits and pieces about this other places... definitely interested in more details.

Oh and by the way....

:worthless:

Let's see some pics of the install!!!!

 

There are a few vehicles in my area that run on compressed natural gas..

 

CNG (compressed natural gas) is quite popular in CA, many busses and municipal vehicles run on it. For example, we were able to buy these vehicles (police cars, trucks and busses) new (& equipped) much cheaper than the diesel counterparts, of course there was a huge Fed Gov't grant involved. Our city muni yard put in a CNG and a Propane station on card lock for the public to use. Of course, the tank size becomes a deterrent for our vehicles--no trunk! I guess you could install on a roof rack??!!

 

Hey, you could always just do it Mad Max style:

 

Prins LPG conversion in Canada is $3,900. Plus tax I assume.

That's dual fuel, can work on either.

I just did a quick calc and it's not worthwhile for me. 8 year payback.

 

CNG (CH4 aka Methane) is safer than LPG (C3H8 Propane) in most cases. CNG is lighter than air and will float away if there's a leak. Propane is heavier than air and will settle.

Also a bonus of CNG is you can purchase an aftermarket compressor and connect it to your house to get the cheapest CNG. (CNG is about 3000psi in a car tank, but less than 10psi from the house)

There's also LNG (liquified natural gas) but it requires a custom built system with cryogenic compressor to keep it super cooled to stay liquid at around 300psi. If the system fails the tanks could fail and experience a blow out.

 

Also a bonus of CNG is you can purchase an aftermarket compressor and connect it to your house to get the cheapest CNG. (CNG is about 3000psi in a car tank, but less than 10psi from the house)

Of course these units will take overnight to fill. Our stations are "fast-fill" and takes less than 10 minutes for a small buss.