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Oil

By Robert Price

In June 1970 the UK newspapers had a story about a gas revolution likely to dramatically reduce the cost of motoring. The new type of fuel to replace petrol would sell for just a fraction of the price of petrol and was already being distributed to forecourts.

Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) also known as propane was heralded as the solution motorists most needed. The cost to convert a vehicle to use this fuel at the time was £135, regardless of model.

So why 40 years later are manufacturers still producing vehicles primarily powered by petrol?

A mix of propane and butane means that LPG is a low pollution fossil fuel. This fact is said to be one fully understood by global governments as is the significant contribution LPG would make to improved air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions if it were the common fuel for vehicles.

Today LPG is widely available yet motor manufacturers keep producing vehicles primarily powered by petrol. The hybrids and electric powered vehicles are still some years off before being likely to be practicable alternatives for the everyday motorist. LPG has been with us as an alternative fuel for the past 40 years.

Conversions in the UK today costs around £1900 dependent on model.

I would be interested to learn the views of others in regards the questions below:

1. Why over the past 40 years have motor manufacturers ignored LPG?
2. Why have governments ignored bringing in legislation to make LPG a primary source of vehicle fuel?
3. Have the oil companies controlled both the above to ensure that their high profits remain more important than either the planet or its people?
4. Isn’t it sad/bad that every global government continues to allow the oil companies such control?
5. Should we all be voting for the Oil Company Chairmen and their boards and not governments?

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Interesting, it is often amazing to look at old stories from 30, 40, or 50 years ago which propose solutions, the future and so forth...and then see similar things stated now...we never really seem to solve things.

I suppose if we all buy stock in the oil companies we might gain some control over their boards via voting.

mulberry Apr 9, 2010 13:48

LPG was never going to be a great alternative to petrol or diesel. It is available here for motor cars that are deigned to be run on LPG but the engineering to create a safe tank has been a bit daunting. The maintenance of LPG engines alse seems to be required much more frequently because it is difficult to get oil into the cylinder to lubricate the pistons. Taxi drivers who were given a subsidy to convert to LPG have found that their running costs are much higher and the fuel is not that much cheaper.

I would be more interested in learning why the cars with steam engines that were developed in the late 70s never went into production. I was very lucky to be able to drive one of these vehicles and was very impressed by the sheer power at all revolutions. These compact engines ran on a very tiny flame and needed about ten minutes to be ready to roll. The engines were quiet, reliable and could return speeds to cope with any speed limits on the roads. The sealed units gave an almost unlimited mileage because the water was recycled and very little was lost in the exhaust.

I appreciate your point. However over a period of 40 years little has been done by motor manufacturers themselves to develop LPG into a more friendly fuel, something which could have benefited both the motorist and planet.

That an LPG fuel tank has seemingly posed an insurmountable obstacle to them for more than 40 years defies logic. The development behind NASA space flights and the fuel tanks required to send vehicles to the Moon and beyond challenge this argument.
So much has been passed from Space technology to the motor and other industries that it seems reasonable to suggest the capability to do more in the LPG environment has probably been available for longer than any of us realise. Yet it would not have benefitted the oil companies who are intent on making huge profits.

Additionally the metals used in motor engines are finally capable of being raced with LPG fuel, as seen in the latest Touring Car Championships. Again forty years seems too long a wait for that to have happened.

Nice photo. As for your questions, i think the same answer goes = "Follow the money." There is a vested interest in holding us back, I think.

Since LPG is an oil company product I don't really believe that they are conspiring to keep LPG powered cars off the road - after all, if LPG became the main source of motor fuel, how high and how fast do you suppose the price would rise?

As for technical problems with the fuel tanks in cars, these are more to do with safety regulations than they are to do with the mechanics. There was a time when motor cars were driven on coal gas with the gas being stored in huge balloons tied to the roof of the car. I don't recall anyone ever having a problem with these ballons but they were eventually banned on safety grounds.

It is also false to compare a hand built racing car engine designed specifically for short term high performance with the requirements of a family runabout that would hardly see a spanner. To rebuild the engine after every outing, as they do with racing cars, would be far too expensive for the average motorist.

The real problem isn't the oil companies, it is the desire for some sort of stability in a world of change. Motor cars traditionally run on petrol, have done for more than a hundred years - defeating the expectations of the buying public is a major problem. Look how difficult it has been to persuade some motorists that diesel is a better fuel than petrol.

theoldcoot Apr 10, 2010 05:13

I remember the fuel shortage in the UK during the 70's and thinking about having my car converted to LPG, but the problem was that I would have had to travel over 40 miles round trip to fill up the tank.
I also seem to remember being quoted more than £300 for the conversion, which at that time was almost 6 weeks wages.

I remember a distinct lack of petrol stations equipped with LPG too. I found the price quoted £135 in an old copy of Motor magazine.
In the '70s a friend converted his Volvo with a do-it-yourself kit and told me that he found himself saving well driving around London where he worked. He was fortunate having a petrol station closeby with new LPG pumps, one of a few to do so at the time. I think LPG cost about a third of the price of petrol then.

Thank you for sharing this fuel history, Robert. I remember visiting Japan in 1983 and seeing diesel powered walk behind rototillers. Here in America, we are still fighting the use of diesel, even though you get three times more diesel then gas from the same barrel of crude oil.
Money talks and the rest of us walk!!
Best wishes.
Frederick

I agree, although perhaps my age is showing because I recall so many inventions that over the years never met expectations. I find diesel interesting in that although it has been well used for many years in Europe, it only really began to catch on in the UK during the eighties when manufacturers, such as Audi, decided to provide diesel cars with similar performances to petrol ones, before that the sales figures show they were not seen as a viable alternative by the public.
I'm surprised the US is lagging behind because as you say diesels do go further per gallon and their in gear punch is often to superior to petrol power.

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