When I learned about propane fueled vehicles, I was intrigued – how did it work, how much did it cost and how much did it save?
This interest was a natural extension of the research I had done on running a vehicle on waste vegetable oil. I didn’t ever write about this on my blog even though my first year of blogging overlapped with driving the mini school bus we bought and converted to run on waste vegetable oil. My husband was a restaurant supervisor at the time, and restaurants need to pay to dispose of their waste vegetable oils. When my husband offered to take it off their hands, it was a win all around, since it saved them money and we got easy access to a fuel source.
It was a great project- we learned a lot, it saved money and was good for the environment. So my interest in alternative fuels goes way back.
After spending a lot of time on a forum dedicated to converting cars to run on propane and particularly reading feedback from knowledgeable mechanics, I felt comfortable making deciding to move in this direction. When it was time to replace our vehicle, we decided to buy a car that was already converted to propane. (The propane system is installed in addition to the regular gas system; it doesn’t replace it.)
That was five years ago, and in that time we’ve owned a total of four cars that were converted to propane. Two of the four were already converted to run on propane when we bought them; I had propane systems installed in the other two cars. It’s fair to say I have a good bit of experience with these vehicles by this time.
When I initially learned that propane systems are a legally recognized option, there are gas stations across the country with propane pumps, and it saves so much money – I was surprised that hardly anyone has heard of it!
When we filled up our first propane car, I felt like we and all the others using the propane pumps were members of an almost secret club who found an inside way to beat high fuel prices – only 5% of cars in Israel are converted to propane. Propane is half the cost of gasoline, and even with a a 90 – 95 percent efficiency rate compared to gas (meaning that you get 5 -10 percent less mileage per liter as compared to gas), it’s quite a savings on fuel.
At my most recent fill up, I bought 24.729 liters of gas for 3.54 shekels a liter, for a total of 87.54 shekels. Propane is known as LPG (liquid petroleum gas), or in Hebrew, גפ”ם, but usually called גז.
This wasn’t a do it yourself project – we had our systems professionally installed. The two places I worked with and would recommend are J-GAS in Haifa, and Gas Saver/ גז חסכן in Kiryat Malachi. The cost of conversion depends on your vehicle; five years ago the costs of conversion at Gas Saver was 5000 shekels (now it’s up to 6000), and we paid 7000 shekels for our most recent propane conversion a year and a half ago at J-GAS.
That’s a lot of money to spend to save a bit on gas, right? However, realize that you’re going to spend money to fuel your car no matter what. If you install and use a propane system, you begin saving money from the first time you drive your car. Once your fuel savings equal the amount you spent on the conversion, you break even.
Reaching the break even point depends on your car and driving habits – we reached that point once we drove 10,500 km. We’ve driven over 45,000 kilometers since we did our conversion just 20 months ago, so it took us about a half a year to break even. It’s as if we paid the regular price of gas for the first 10,500 kilometers, and for the next almost 35,000, we’ve paid half price.
Our car uses some gasoline each time we drive, in addition to the propane. Some cars run only on propane once they are warmed up, and their savings are higher. Very conservatively estimated, we’ve saved over 10,000 shekels in gas in the last year on just this one car. For the cars we purchased that already had propane systems in them, we didn’t have any payback time, and we began immediately saving as soon as we drove them. And since most of the time we had two vehicles running on propane, the savings on fuel costs were significant.
There are additional maintenance costs for this system; every fifteen thousand kilometers we have to change the filters. Depending where you have the filters changed, it’s around 200 – 500 shekels each time (we go to JGas where it’s 200).
A bonus for the functioning of the car is that engines that run on propane stay cleaner, since propane has a higher octane rating than gasoline, and the reduced wear and tear on the engine reduces maintenance costs. As a much cleaner burning fuel, it’s also better for the environment.
Avivah
