LPG – A Viable Alternate Fuel

I was reading about converting automobiles to run on LPG for quite some time. Even though many vehicles were seen running on LPG, I was skeptic on converting my Maruti Omni to run on it. Armed with knowledge on the advantages, disadvantages and precaution to be taken, a gentle coaxing from my colleague was sufficient to fix a conversion kit on my vehicle. A number of Auto LPG dispensing stations have come up at Hyderabad, making refilling easy.

I have logged around 3000 Kms during the past one year without any trouble. I, then, decided to go for a long drive to test the efficacy of my van on LPG for continuous drive. The route I have chosen was Hyderabad -Solapur-Belgaum -Goa- Karwar -Jog Falls-Shimoga- Bangalore- Chennai-Vijayawada-Hyderabad. The high ways I have chosen consisted of plain and ghat sections. Many places the roads were in very bad condition and full of pot holes. I started from Hyderabad with 48 litres of LPG and 10 litres of Petrol. I have collected the details of Auto LPG stations enroute from the internet (http://www.iac.org.in) and had little difficulty in locating them as the details were correct and up to date

The first refueling was done at Solapur after a travel of 310 Kms and 7 hrs. The travel was smooth and engine parameters were normal. The avg km/ litre was 14.97.The next refueling was done at Panaji after traveling 523 Kms on LPG and 60 Kms on petrol. The avg Kms/litre on LPG was 16.36 and 12.4 on petrol. About 50 Kms stretch before Belgaum was under repair. Road from Belgaum to Panaji was through Western Ghats and around 20 Kms was in very bad shape and dusty, with a lot of trucks plying with iron ore. The vehicle did not give any trouble and reached Goa from Belgaum in Four Hrs.

The next route was from Panaji to Shimoga through NH-17 till Hanovar and from there through NH-206. NH-17 was under repair at many places reducing the avg. speed. The NH-206 was very narrow single line for half of the way with steep climbs and sharp curves till Jog Falls. The high way is not worth to be called as a “high way”. From there the road condition improved but it started raining heavily. Reached Shimoga after some 10 hrs of driving, traveling 465 Kms and spending 34.13 litres of LPG at an avg of 13.64 Kms/litre

The NH-206 from Shimoga to Tumkur was in a very bad shape for the first 20 Kms and it took around 2 hrs to travel the stretch and the road conditions improved there after, however, unexpected speed breakers were a head ache. From Tumkur, the travel was through NH-4 (Golden Quadrilateral) up to Bangalore and I could test a speed of 105 Km/hr. I continued the journey up to Chennai through NH-4. Changed over to Petrol at Sriperumbudur and continued the journey till Chennai.

Filled 43 litres of LPG at Chennai and Hyderabad was the next destination via Vijayawada. The NH-5 was fantastic and the journey till Vijayawada was rejoicing. In between at Guntur filled 42 ltrs of LPG. The high way NH-9 from Vijayawada to Hyderabad was four lines for a distance of 30 Kms and then it narrowed down with heavy traffic. It took around 7 hrs to cover a distance of 270 Kms. The van, by the end covered a distance of 3153 Kms! (3035 Kms on LPG and 118 Kms on Petrol). Never on the entire stretch was any trouble and the condition of vehicle was prefect even after reaching Hyderabad.

Conclusion: Running the van on LPG for over 6000 Kms without any damage to engine or break down clearly established the viability of LPG as an alternate fuel for automobiles. The crude oil price is galloping to new highs and is a grave concern for countries like India. Use of Auto LPG should, therefore, be encouraged to curtail the consumption of Petrol and Diesel. The discovery of Natural Gas at KG basin can assure the supply of LPG in the future. Compared to other fuels LPG is the least pollutant. Another major advantage of LPG is that adulteration is difficult, if not possible. It is about 40% cheaper than petrol. The govt. should encourage the opening of more and more Auto LPG outlets through out the country on priority basis.

Total KMs on LPG = 3035.3
Total KMs on Petrol = 117.7
Vehicle: Maruti Omni Carburetor Model
LPG Kit: Voltran, Italy