Madrid
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The current economic and political uncertainty, aggravated by the conflict in Ukraine, has led to record highs in the prices of many raw materials, energy and fuels in recent weeks. Governments around the world propose measures to alleviate the effects of inflation. In the case of fuels, prices have experienced, in some cases, increases of up to 30% compared to those of a year ago.
Given this scenario, autogas, the name given to LPG when it is used as automotive fuel, is positioned as an economic and, moreover, sustainable alternative.
It is a clean energy, made up of propane and butane, which already propels more than 27 million vehicles in the world and, since 2014, has been recognized by the European Commission as an alternative fuel for transport.
Likewise, it is one of the cheapest alternatives on the market, with a price of 0.91 cents per liter according to official data published by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. Cost that remains stable despite the circumstances and that has only increased 0.198 cents in the last year.
As explained by BeGas, it is currently possible to repower heavy vehicles between three and ten years old, which allows both public administrations and transport companies to reuse their fleets by replacing their diesel engines for others powered by autogas or biopropane.
A saving that is not only economic since the use of BeGas ecological engines, which have Euro VI Step E approval, the most advanced in the EU for combustion equipment, reduces particle levels by more than 90% in suspension and NOx. They also contribute to the reduction of noise pollution, since they achieve noise levels 50% lower than those emitted by diesel vehicles.
How to change a car to gas?
To convert a car to gas, you must first know that not all vehicles can be converted to gas. Spanish legislation limits this transformation to gasoline models with Euro3 approval and later, that is, those that were sold from 2001.
Like hybrid cars, LPG-powered cars have a second tank, currently only used on gasoline engines. We can choose to buy it already prepared or adapt our vehicle by means of an LPG KIT -tank, gas injectors and nozzle- in an authorized workshop, since later the ITV must be the one that grants the homologation.
This solution that adapts perfectly to any municipality or geographical area thanks to the reduction in expenses that the reuse of vehicles implies and the easy transport of this fuel, which makes it possible to reach the most remote regions.
Keep in mind that a car powered by LPG is a traditional gasoline vehicle, which, thanks to a second tank where the LPG is stored, allows us to choose at any time which drive system we want to use. But what happens if one of the two is exhausted? Well, the control system will simply issue a warning and make the change automatically without noticing anything.
This type of installation can cost around 1,600 euros, which is amortized in normal use of between 50,000 and 60,000 kilometers in the life of the vehicle since the price of Autogas is almost half that of gasoline -0.66 euros/liter compared to 1.32 for gasoline.
Subsequently, you have to legalize the car and go through the ITV. For these steps there are transformation teams that have their own workshops and delegations throughout Spain that can carry out the transformations with the guarantee of the Distributor or the vehicle brand itself. On the AOGLP website it is possible to find all these “Distributors” and, within each of them, their network of authorized workshops.
It is advisable to require them, since the controls of the Administrations are periodic and very demanding to ensure the quality of the transformation, of the workshop and of future maintenance with adequate training of the workshops. Therefore, these «Distributors», through their facilities, simplify these tasks to the maximum, delivering the car to the consumer with all the requirements to go out and roll again.
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