Filling up with a smile for three tenners
A popular clincher on the subject of LPG is the statement ‘gas is for cooking’. But that is no longer valid, because in the kitchen we exchange natural gas for induction. The number of cars with a gas tank has been decreasing for years now. Is there still hope for LPG?
You pay roughly one euro less for a liter of autogas than for a liter of petrol. This way you can refill your tank with forty liters of gas for less than €30. But then you first have to have that installation on board. The real buyer is the one who buys a used or new car where the tank is already in the trunk. Then the turning point is already between 4,500 and 6,000 kilometers per year. If you want new, then you are dependent on Dacia and if it is a used car on LPG, then the mileage is often high.
There are now fewer than 100,000 LPG cars
Driving on LPG has not become more popular. For example, in 2012 our fleet still had almost 210,000 cars that ran on this fuel, in 2022 there were just over 98,000 and this downward trend continues. Still, there is already a modest revival, partly because fuel prices skyrocketed last year and partly because diesel is falling out of favor for a variety of reasons. Add to that the soot measurement with a particle counter, which will be mandatory for diesels from 1 January this year, and there is a glimmer of hope for the LPG industry again. We should not expect anything from the government in this area. It focuses on electric driving and will no longer support fossil fuels. Only the €317 discount on the mrb for a car with G3 installation (which is almost always the case with a car from around 1995) is a small gesture, but the increased weight partly negates that.
When powerful, faster diesels arrived, things went wrong with LPG
The question is: where and when did things really go wrong with the LPG car? The big change came with the arrival of the HDI and TDI likes of this world. The perfect power source for the road eater with a company car. Why bother with a naturally aspirated engine on LPG when you can drive a nice, torquey, economical turbo diesel? A logical reasoning, we think.
Installing autogas has become more expensive
In addition, the installation of a gas installation has become more expensive over the years. Today, many petrol cars have a direct injection turbo engine and then you are quickly talking about amounts between €2,400 and €3,000 to convert a four-cylinder to LPG. For a car with a ‘normal’ four-cylinder injection engine you have to count on about €2,000. Many people would pay that amount without batting an eyelid for a large LED TV with soundbar or for a holiday, but in the case of a money-saving measure it is very different.
You often see a Dacia Sandero filling up with LPG, you can get both the previous and the current generation from the factory.
Hybrids and more economical petrol cars
But there are more causes. Cars are becoming more and more economical, you can easily get between 1 in 15 and 1 in 20, with or without a hybrid. And do you remember the tax-free youngtimer? Anyone 25 and older was once exempt from mrb. Even if that car ran on LPG or diesel. Grateful use was made of this, until Father State put a line through the bill and an entire industry collapsed. Now that limit is at 40 years, so we will see a small increase in cars from 1982 and 1983. Then we have had a few more years when new cars with low CO2 emissions were also exempt from MRB. This not only resulted in a deluge of economical diesels, but also a few models on LPG. Think of the Mazda 2 1.3 BiFuel, the Opel Corsa Ecoflex Bi-Fuel and the Chevrolet Spark 1.0 BiFuel.
In other words, again, cheaper you could not and cannot drive a car. So is driving on LPG a smart choice? In many cases yes, especially given the low liter price. It makes quite a difference whether you have to pay almost a hundred euros every time after a refueling or whether you are ready for a maximum of four tens. In addition, it is a less polluting fuel than petrol or diesel. The prices for some installations are quite high, which is a disadvantage, just like the government that is not very reliable. But for anyone who wants to drive as cheaply as possible, LPG is an excellent option.
Slight increase in LPG in 2022
The fact that the market for the installation of gas installations is on the rise again can be seen from the figures from the RDW, where the conversion is registered. Here are the figures for the past six years:
2017: 3,466
2018: 3,406
2019: 3,639
2020: 2,949
2021: 3,072
2022: 3,460
LPG: plus and minus
+ 
Business: less additional tax liability due to a lower list price than an electric or diesel car
+ Lower CO2 emissions (TÜV measurement with Golf 1.4 TSI: 176.7 g/km on petrol, 161.3 g/km on LPG)
+ Lower NOx emissions
+ Lower particulate matter emissions (-99% with Euro 6 direct injection engine)
+ Low liter price
+ Hardly any higher motor vehicle tax (mrb) for compact cars due to G3 discount
+ Second-hand or new car with built-in gas system already cost-effective at more than 6,000 km/year
– A gas installation for a car with direct injection is expensive (€2,400 to €3,000)
– More often at the pump
– Shift to unmanned pumps, and there is no LPG available
– Factory or used warranty may partially expire (inquire well)
– Not every engine is suitable for it (additional valve lubrication system required)
– Break-even point reached only after approximately two years (depending on annual mileage)
– Sometimes loss of luggage space (if no spare wheel well for built-in tank)
– Higher insurance premium
– Higher rate Mr
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl