Car - eco friendly fuel

Beverley

I'm about to have about £5k to spend on a car. I wondered how easy/sensible it is to convert to LPG or to use Bio diesel - I'm feeling very clueless but my usual cars cost around £300 and then I run em till they drop.

This seems like the right time to get something cost effective and environmentally friendly.

Any ideas?

gromituk

You can do a certain amount, but far better would be to try to do without the car where possible. Can you cycle? Walk? Lift-share? Take public transport? Work from home?

Beverley

gromituk wrote:

You can do a certain amount, but far better would be to try to do without the car where possible. Can you cycle? Walk? Lift-share? Take public transport? Work from home?

Public transport isn't an option for getting my kids to school in one town and me to school in another.

Car sharing isn't viable as others come in opposite direction.

I need a car - just looking for the most cost effective and environmentally option.

MarkyMarkD

An LPG conversion isn't economically worthwhile, IMHO, on a £5k car (or more like £4k plus the cost of conversion). You'd have to do a lot of mileage to recoup the initial outlay, and you lose space in the boot so have to buy a bigger car than you otherwise would have (or lose your spare wheel).

IMHO a £5k indirect injection turbo diesel would be the best option. I don't know what size you want but something like an Focus TDDI or a Xsara HDI should be within your price bracket.

Many oil companies are including 5% bio diesel in their diesel. All diesels should run on 5% biodiesel but some won't run on 100% so this is why they've chosen this threshhold.

100% biodiesel is hard to find so not very practical at the moment.

RiffRaff

Another point on LPG - I remember reading in Private Eye a couple of years ago that LPG isn't actually as Eco-friendly as first thought - hence the tax has been rising on it. The article (don't have it any more I'm afraid) suggested that as petrol engines are much more advanced than they once were they are now extremely efficient - and in some new cars converting to LPG would actually make them more polluting...

RR

Beverley

RiffRaff wrote:

Another point on LPG - I remember reading in Private Eye a couple of years ago that LPG isn't actually as Eco-friendly as first thought - hence the tax has been rising on it. The article (don't have it any more I'm afraid) suggested that as petrol engines are much more advanced than they once were they are now extremely efficient - and in some new cars converting to LPG would actually make them more polluting...

RR

Thanks for this. I did wonder how it helps the environment when it's still gas that has to be taken out of the ground.

hitchhiker_2

I'm in a rural area and buses are fairly infrequent, so I had to get a second hand car. But until I can afford a Prius or one of those new green vehicles, I'm doing the best I can with maximising my fuel mileage -- driving in the right gear, making sure the engine is tuned properly, tyres properly inflated, and so on. Oh and not driving to any place less than 2 miles!

Hopefully when green technology gets cheaper and more easily available, I'll make the switch. I think consciousness helps in the interim. Not really answering your question, but I hope something works out.

gromituk

I think it has less emissions of other pollutants. That's why you occasionally see LPG-powered vehicles driving round indoors (such as at exhibitions).

wrightnick

It is possible to drive a fully green car in the UK

http://www.goingreen.co.uk/index.html?PageID=AboutGWiz

This car costs £7,799 new, but can save you a fortune in London, etc
its exempt from road tax and congestion change...

Sadly the technology isn't quite ready yet, its maximum range is just 40 miles!

Yet only costs about 1p to charge!

They do sell other 'pre-owned' cars, so you could pick one up for less than £7,799

but it really is a second car - if you ever want to drive 'some distance' you'd soon need a tow for the AA!

Regards

Beverley

Would love one of these - in fact at those savings, I'd happily put myself IN debt to get one because well within a year I'd have saved enough on fuel etc for it to have paid for itself.

However, I don't live in London - I live in the North West and do a 40 mile round trip to work via the children's schools. Am not in a position to have a car die on me on my way home.

I will, however, be passing these details onto my London friends. Thanks very much

Beverley

wrightnick wrote:

It is possible to drive a fully green car in the UK

http://www.goingreen.co.uk/index.html?PageID=AboutGWiz

This car costs £7,799 new, but can save you a fortune in London, etc
its exempt from road tax and congestion change...

Sadly the technology isn't quite ready yet, its maximum range is just 40 miles!

Yet only costs about 1p to charge!

They do sell other 'pre-owned' cars, so you could pick one up for less than £7,799

but it really is a second car - if you ever want to drive 'some distance' you'd soon need a tow for the AA!

Regards

SusanCarter

RiffRaff wrote:

Another point on LPG - I remember reading in Private Eye a couple of years ago that LPG isn't actually as Eco-friendly as first thought - hence the tax has been rising on it. The article (don't have it any more I'm afraid) suggested that as petrol engines are much more advanced than they once were they are now extremely efficient - and in some new cars converting to LPG would actually make them more polluting...
RR

I'm not sure what they were basing that on as the only thing I can think of is that perhaps more unused fuel comes out of the exhaust.

The reason LPG is better than petrol (and petrol better than Diesel) is that it has shorter carbon chains so for the amount of energy it provides it produces less carbon dioxide. (I did a degree in chemistry and when someone told me that I didn't believe it so did the calculations based on bond energies etc and found that it was indeed correct.)

I don't know a lot about Biodiesel but I guess that if it is produced from plants then it is just putting back the carbon dioxide taken out by the plants so is better than releasing it from fossil fuels.

I had a collegue at work once who was into cars (I think he had about twelve of them). He said that even the most inefficient car made used less energy in its lifetime than was required to make it. On that basis, it is good to keep using a car until it "dies" than to replace a perfectly servicable car with a "greener" one.

This person also had a Cadillac which was apparently twice the width of my Micra and three times as long. I think it had a fuel consumption of around 8 m.p.g. but he said that because it was produced in Los Angeles at a time when there was a lot of pollution problems there, they had the strictest laws on emmissions in the world so it has huge catalytic converters and other stuff so although it uses tonnes of fuels it produces hardly any emissions.

Obviously the last two points are just based on what he told me so I can't guarantee it is 100% accurate but the point is that there are lots of different factors to consider and a car could be green in one way but not in another. For example he said that the catalytic converters were big and heavy therefore a larger engine capacity was needed to carry them. This meant higher fuel consumption was needed for lower emissions.

Another point to think about is what happens to the waste when a car is disposed of. If we looked after our cars better then they would last longer which would therefore be better for the environment.

Didn't intend this to be quite so long but hopefully have thrown in a good few points for discussion.