Autogas Alliance: A New Frontier

An alliance, due to be launched in July, along with the consent of some of the UK’s major vehicle manufacturers, could mean that fleets will find making the switch from petrol and diesel models to LPG not only cost effective but better for their total carbon footprint.


“This alliance was formed after the success of New LPG vehicles being supplied into the Taxi Market. As this is a real test of a vehicle’s endurance, with some taxi’s having exceeded 80,000 miles per annum, it was felt with this reliability there would be a considerable interest if launched into the Fleet Market. Fleet Operators will have to consider LPG as a cost effective and viable option to petrol and diesel vehicles. As a part of the alliance’s offer, there is also the ability to install gas tanks on customer sites which allows the Fleet Operator to reduce his fuel and servicing costs even further” stated Rob Breuilly Managing Director of the vehicle supply arm.

There are thought to be around 150,000 LPG vehicles on UK roads, whilst Europe boasts more than 7million, selling around 4,000 units per week, this is due to some European Governments still subsidising the costs of the conversion.

Breuilly’s agreement with the Manufacturers will allow fleets to order petrol vehicles that have the capability to be converted to LPG, and thanks to economies of scale, provide an extremely attractive package for any small to large Fleet Buyer , thereby increasing the savings even further Combined with substantially reduced running costs of LPG vehicles, makes the case indisputable; (current pump prices standing at 77.5p/litre, according to www.petrolprices.com, compared with 137.2p/litre for unleaded and 142.2p/litre for diesel). And, if fleets have their own LPG tank installed on site, the cost could drop to just 67.5p/l, according to John Burke of Autogas Network. As stated above, the alliance has already run a trial of the system with Vauxhall in the UK’s Taxi Market, and so far has realised a return of 9.1p/mile for converted LPG vehicles as against 12.6p/mile for diesel and 17.1p/mile for petrol.


 With 1400 LPG filling stations currently in the UK, this is rising daily as the interest from the major Supermarket chains grows to install gas pumps in all their stations, it would seem that the UK have been slow to embrace this technology, following the Government withdrawal of subsidies, something that Burke puts down to “our nervous approach to anything new”.
 “Here in the UK we are so far behind Europe when it comes to taking up LPG and I think it’s about time we re-appraised the advances made in LPG technology.
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 The alliance believes the launch has come at the right time as by 2020 there is a European requirement to ensure that 20% of vehicles on our roads are running on alternative fuels (including Hydrogen and electric): “Hydrogen and electric vehicles are still too far away to have an immediate effect – it could be 10 or even 20 years before we see a real impact from
these vehicles.

But LPG is here now!

All we hear about in the press is focused on diesel and CO2 emissions.

It is “this obsession with CO2” from both Government and industry that has clouded the environmental issue, claims John Burke. “Diesels may be pumping out lower CO2 levels today but they still produce toxic NOx, hydrocarbons and Benzines which all affect people’s health. We seem to be living in a hydrocarbon soup and yet have failed to realise that there are virtually no particulates produced from an LPG vehicle.” In fact, LPG vehicles are already meeting environmental standards for Euro VI on NOx, while PM levels are too low to measure.

The Alliance expects to sell 3-4000 vehicles a year within the first three years and has already placed substantial forward orders. Lead time is expected to be about eight weeks depending on the size of the order.

For further information as to vehicle availability contact John Burke on 07886 801609
www.dualfuelsavings.com  or info@dualfuelsavings.co.uk
www.autogas-alliance.com  or info@autogas-alliance.com