LPG conversion

headcoat

I now have to drive about 60 miles round trip a day to work, which is obviously costing a fortune in petrol. I have a large car Rover 820 and really like the car, comfy and reliable. Its quite old P reg but only done 70,000 miles and had full service history up to about 18 months ago.

I am now considering LPG, as far as I can see convert my car approx £1500, or buy an already converted one from say ebay and risk getting a car I know nothing about.

Any opinions on this?

anewman

I'd get out a calculator and work out the saving per year (bearing in mind you get less MPG from LPG). Work out the approximate number of years needed to "break even". Then I would consider how long I think I would be keeping the car, taking into account it's current condition.

Hintza

Have to agree with Anewman. For such an old car I am not sure if the figures will work out.

Just how ling are you hoping you keep the car for. It will start to develop all sorts of problems (alternators, suspension bushes, water pumps, rust etc). Is the conversion even possible or advisable on this engine?

Assuming about 30mpg (probably worse than that) and 20,000 miles per annum then you are spending about £670 per year on petrol.

Assuming lpg prices at 50p/litre (might be a shade cheaper) and a decline of 10% in fuel economy then it will cost £370 per year to run on lpg. A saving of £300.

Keeping this simple and not accounting for interest and inflation etc (which would make the figures worse) it will take 5 years for this to pay for its self.

Will the car still be running then? Even now I expect a P reg 820 to be virtually worthless.


Please ignore my figuresthey are all wrong when I get a chance I will come back and do them properly (I have worked out the cost at 30 miles per litre....doh)

Bob63

Firstly I'd echo the other comments. With a car of that age it just isn't worth converting. If you do go ahead then beware the self-install route. If you don't get a professional conversion done by an LPGA approved installer then you may struggle to get insurance. I would do some ringing around before buying a kit off eBay.

Also, give some thought to tank. Tanks fill to about 75% (i.e. a 60 litre tank will hold 45 litres of LPG). LPG is also less efficient (about 10%) so the range you get will be less. If your nearest LPG station is some distance away then you may find yourself running out of LPG and reverting to petrol more often than you think.

You don't say where in the country you are. If you are in the Midlands or South West England then check out Countrywide - the farming people. They have a large network of LPG stations. You get an electronic chip-key off them which allows you to fill up at any of the stations and then you pay your bill at the end of the month. Not having to queue when you get your fuel is very nice and generally their prices are lower.

geordiepaul2001

The best advice I can give is to input your figures into the calculator on the following webpage - http://www.autogasyorkshire.co.uk/savings-calculator.php

Hope it helps,

Paul

Conor_3

60 miles a day simply doesn't make it viable. You'll be saving £20 a week. It'll take basically 5 years just to break even AND THAT IS ASSUMING THE GOVT DOESN'T INCREASE THE DUTY. By then you're likely to have sold the car or changed job.

epz_2

you would be better getting a similar car lpg converted already, i saw a bmw 740 1999 with 70k on the clock go for 5K so there are big motorway monsters kicking about pre lpg'ed pretty cheap.

a quick ebay search found a 01 volvo v70 lpg for just over 3 grand

harveybobbles

P reg Rover 820 - worth £100.

No brainer to me!

Tucker

Some sound advice and some not so sound advice.

I have an LPG recent conversion, so I hopefully can provide you the benefit of my own experience.

Firstly, the quoted fuel spend by Hintza is a mile out (no pun!). I suspect 30mpg might be generous on an old rover 820, but any way, 20,000 mile PA at 30 mpg gives an annual fuel spend of just over £3,000, not £670 (666 gallons of petrol per annum at £4.60 per gallon average). (Sorry, just noticed that Hintza had spotted that at a later date....)

LPG savings are about half. I currently buy it at 44p per litre, compared to 102.9 for petrol. The mpg is about 20% less on gas.

Therefore for you, doing the sort of mileage that you are, you would recoup the cost in around a year. However, I wouldn't personally recommend converting a car of that age, myself. Mine is 3 years old with 45k on the clock, so it should be good for another 50k.
One thing an LPG conversion will do is highlight any existing mechanical problems and amplyfy them.

My advice would be to go LPG, but either buy a pre converted one or get newer car and convert it.

With regard to tax increases on LPG. The current gov supported it in the 2006 budget and froze duty till at least this year and promised to only increase the differential with petrol by a max of 1p per litre per year. So short to medium term, it's unlikely to happen with the current gov in power.

Wig

cheesy.mike wrote: »

Also, give some thought to tank. Tanks fill to about 75% (i.e. a 60 litre tank will hold 45 litres of LPG).

They fill between 88% - 95%. and it depends where the pressure cut off switch is set, but all the ones I have known have been somewhere in that range.

Wig

Conor wrote: »

60 miles a day simply doesn't make it viable. You'll be saving £20 a week. It'll take basically 5 years just to break even AND THAT IS ASSUMING THE GOVT DOESN'T INCREASE THE DUTY. By then you're likely to have sold the car or changed job.

£20 a week saving is £1040 a year payback time of 18 months.

LPG is set to rise 1p per litre above and beyond any petrol rise for the next 3 years

petrol goes up 2p
lpg goes up 3p

Percentage wise it is a big difference petrol goes up 2% LPG goes up 6%
But at the end of the day LPG will still be a big saving. We can forecast that in 3 years time LPG is likely to be about 60p litre on todays oil prices & unleaded will be £1.12