Does anyone still use LP autogas?

[Bigbjorn]

Who still uses LP gas as a motor fuel? Both my local servos once had LP bowsers but took them out when one was demolished and newly rebuilt and the other, a freehold family business, had a total renovation. I asked the patriarch of the freehold station why this was done. He said sales had dropped off steadily as cars got smaller and more economical, fleets bought hybrids and diesels, and the remaining LP customers were people with big old V8's and other gas guzzlers. Not worth having any more, he said. They once had a kerosene bowser and removed it when kero became too expensive to use for home heating and sales dropped right off to near nothing.

[AK83]

Yeah I remember the good ol Kero bowser at a local BP when I was an 'ankle biter'.
I also remember the dedicated two stroke tank they had as well.

I don't think it'll be too long before unleaded bowsers also give way to EV charge points .. don't laugh .. it'll happen.

[Fattima]

I've got a dedicated LPG Falcon ute, very economical to run. Local servo here did a renovation recently and fitted new LPG pumps so they must still see some value in it.

[pop058]

Still have a 98 D1 with gas. That 70 or so lts as well as a Long Ranger tank underneath gets me about 11/1200 kms on the open road (not towing). You have to be nice to it but not difficult.

[Homestar]

Yeah I remember the good ol Kero bowser at a local BP when I was an 'ankle biter'.
I also remember the dedicated two stroke tank they had as well.

I don't think it'll be too long before unleaded bowsers also give way to EV charge points .. don't laugh .. it'll happen.

I think it’s more likely charge points will be more dispersed - parking lots, etc than a dedicated one area that you park at while your car charges. They’ll be so many other options, the need to even go to a Servo for anything more than a cold sausage roll and a big M will gradually fade, but I think we’re talking decades here.

[tc_s1]

Who still uses LP gas as a motor fuel? Both my local servos once had LP bowsers but took them out when one was demolished and newly rebuilt and the other, a freehold family business, had a total renovation. I asked the patriarch of the freehold station why this was done. He said sales had dropped off steadily as cars got smaller and more economical, fleets bought hybrids and diesels, and the remaining LP customers were people with big old V8's and other gas guzzlers. Not worth having any more, he said. They once had a kerosene bowser and removed it when kero became too expensive to use for home heating and sales dropped right off to near nothing.

I have a 110 and two Perentie's to which I fitted LP. From time to time I run it with the Diesel, particularly on trips but it is rather inconvenient getting to a place to fill these days.

[Ausclassics]

I am one of the annoyed ones who is finding it harder to get LPG.
I do over 70,000kms/year and use over $10,000 in LPG to do it.

With the injected gas on the P38 it is beyond awesome... You can't tell the difference except for the half cost of motoring.

The Falcon ute is a little down on power but again the cost saving is massive

Also having used it since the 80s the maintenance is a lot lower as well.

[scarry]

Still got two work vans on LPG,they have a very good Landi Renso injection system,no trouble with either,both around 10yrs old,300 000K's.
Much cheaper to run than diesel,but as others have said,gas outlets are disappearing,so all our new vans are now diesel.

Its a shame really,because i prefer the petrol/ LPG any day over diesel.

[101 Ron]

I use a 1992 patrol with the 3 litre RB30 motor............I recently worked out the running cost of fuel per Km
LPG..........15cents per km
Petrol 33 cents per km
The LPG running costs put some diesels to shame.
My 101 Landrover would be difficult to run on long trips without hurting the pocket badly, ............I find the 63 litre tank fitted to the 101 gives me limited range on that fuel, but usually enough to reach to the next LPG servo......about 50% of the time using petrol to fill in the gaps in range............still enough to save big dollars.
Yes LPG servos are getting harder,to find.
The shame is LPG burns so clean,and is easily made from australian cuts of crude oil or if required from australian natural gas etc.
Australia is a well placed country to use LPG.
The problem is we export alot of our stock good for making LPG and the Govt raised taxes on this cleaner than petrol and diesel fuel a number of years back.
The govt also removed any incentive to install LPG as was done up to about 10 years ago.
The other problem is the instalation on modern engine and vehicles is much more difficult, due increasing electronics.
The use of LPG will rapidly decline untill some one in Govt rediscovers it as a cheap and fairly clean fuel.
The forklift game extensively uses LPG as the motors last longer, burn cleaner for in door use and handle stop/start/cold running extremely well.
For automotive use incentive for new vehicles with LPG must be available to keep the retail supply chain intact, for if we completely lose it, the retail chain we will never be able to set it up again in a cost effeive manner and expose our selves more to overseas oil stocks and lack of supply which Australia only ever has Two weeks of over seas crude in stock.

[AK83]

LPG was only really viable as a fuel in a retailing perspective due to the taxi fleet market.
If it weren't for them, it'd never have taken off as it did.
Yeah, it was cheap, but then again back then so was petrol.
The the Govt stepped in and created the install rebate and it exploded, and since then LPG prices skyrocketed.
As a courier for many years, it'd have been impossible to operate without LPG as a fuel source back then .. even taking into account the cost of rebuilding heads on cars due to it's harshness on the valves!
Over diesel, I think we worked out a minimum of about 10-20% cheaper on LPG over a similar turbo diesel model vehicle(assuming both relatively efficient(like the Rodeo V6 I used to run).

Also had a 'safe as houses' XF Falcon (POS, that it was) .. still overall was cheaper to run the Rodeo over 4-5 years and need to rebuild the heads, than the wasteful Falcon over the same period.

The problem with LPG was always supply, even when it was common.
And I mean out in the boondocks, late at night type supply.

On a trip up via Bourke into south central QLD, I get into Bourke(large town that it is) on a Sunday, no LPG thank you very much!
I mean, they have an LPG station, and it's 24hr operation, but shop closed on Sunday, and the 24hr part was a card payment system where you fill yourself, type setup.
Only for diesel and petrol.. not set up to work on their LPG system!

Other gotchas. Trip up to Lake Eyre, coming via Pimba up to the South Lake and then back(only had the weekend) via LeighCreek.
Leigh Creek didn't have any LPG(ran out), can't get it in Marree.
Now I've got this dead weight for about 300km, where I can't really use it. I think I had to fill at Hawker or something ... maybe Wilpena.

Bourke trip in the Rodeo, Lk Eyre trip in the Frontera(same motor).
When the Frontera was given away, I swore not LPG again .. too much of an issue getting it .. so turbo diesel from now on(hence the Tdi).
Now I can do the Lk Eyre trip via Pimba to the lake and back via Leigh Creek, and still have enough in reserve to get me back to Wilpena!
No need to use about $100 in petrol to save a few cents per klm in not using LPG.

For me in my usage now, it's not just about supply(although this is a major issue), but range too.

Currently, my D1 Tdi costs me 18c per klm at todays prices(approx $1.40 for diesel), and the last time I worked out cost per klm for my Frontera on LPG .. it cost me 12c per klm at 65c/lt for LPG.
I'll get out my fuel cost spreadsheet and try to figure out at todays prices what that 5 year old LPG figure would be now. about 50% more I reckon. LPG is now at 90cpl.

I'll probably never go back to it .. after near on 30 years of using it.
Highly unlikely taxis will go back to it too now too. Local car production gone, so they rely on imports .. some from Europe, some from Japan, and from what I'm seeing a lot of .. Korea.
Seen a lot of hybrids lately too. Kia maybe .. Hyundais .. can't remember really .. but I think this is the future of taxi fleets now. Noticed a lot of small diesel Korean/Jap taxis a while back too.
Taxi's are now looking for maximum efficiency, and or very little to zero fuel cost type vehicles.