LPG

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Thu 16 Nov 2000 08:25
LPG - Max Bancroft
In Honest John,s Telegraph column a correspondant was (more or less)
rubbishing LPG powered cars.
Here in Australia the current story is very different.
Ford sells its big car, 4.0 litre six (FALCON), sedan, wagon and utility with factory fitted dedicated LPG
as an option. (NO petrol tank) and Ford cannot make enough of them.

Petrol here is half what you pay in the UK. So why bother? I hear you ask - Aussies like Big cars)
LPG is half the price of petrol.
LPG burns cleaner - less pollutants - and the power issue vanishes
when you stop trying to make cars burn petrol OR LPG. These Fords which are
engineered to run LPG only you lose a little at high peak power but gain in peak torque.
All larger filling stations now sell LPG. More and more fleet buyers are moving
to LPG. I just swopped leased petrol Falcon for for a dedicated LPG Falcon.
I dont notice much difference till I see the numbers turn over on the petrol pump
LPG is here to stay.

Max Bancroft
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Thu 16 Nov 2000 19:32
RE: LPG - honestjohn
Dear Max,

The problem with this is partly limited supplies of lpg and partly the fact that as soon as large numbers of the motoring public convert to it the government will lose revenue. To cap use of lpg to the available supply and to maintain tax revenue from fuel, it will have to increase the tax on lpg, just like it did the last time round in the UK.

HJ
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Sun 26 Nov 2000 19:19
RE: LPG - John Kenny
I have recently purchased a 1.8S Nissan Primera (my third Primera) and within a month began to wonder about an LPG conversion. I was puzzled to be told by the Hendy Group (who do conversions to new cars for Nissan) that "Nissan fit hardened cylinder head valves and seats to compensate for the higher running temperatures on LPG powered vehicles". Thes cars have to be preordered and are specially built on the production line before going to Hendy for the conversion. So my car cannot be retro-fitted.
I cannot understand this because many converted vehicles are pre-unleaded and will not even have the harder valves etc which were said to be necessary for that fuel - so how do they survive?
J M Kenny
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