After years of being in the doldrums, Autogas conversions compliance-plated in Tasmania have jumped by 200 percent this year compared to the same period last year.
"With soaring petrol prices, there is no reason why anyone doing more than average kilometres should not convert to LPG," Malcolm Little, General Manager, Tasmanian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (TACC) said.
"Not only can conversion to LPG halve - and better - monthly fuel bills, but converting to LPG is also doing the country a favour. The vast bulk of our LPG is produced here, unlike much of our petrol which is imported," he said.
Mr Little said the heightened level of interest is being driven by the widening price differential between LPG Autogas and petrol. "The main reason for the upswing is the price gap between LPG and petrol which, for some months now, has been up to 55 cents a litre." For example, to convert a Ford BA sedan would cost $1,400 and if that vehicle averaged 30,000kms per year, there would be a saving of $1,000 in fuel each year.
The cost of the conversion would be covered in 17 months. Nationally, the story is the same. Conversions across Australia are up 14 percent compared to the same period last year. Such is the increase in demand that some installers and equipment suppliers are struggling to keep up.
"It is certainly a different story now than three or four years ago when the Autogas conversion sector hit the wall. We lost a lot of people out of industry due to some poor policy decisions by Government. "LPG holds the answer to a lot of our fuel-related problems - it's environmentally friendly compared to conventional fuels, it burns cleanly and without harmful engine residues, it's produced here and it offers higher-travel motorists huge savings. "LPG is the answer.
The recent resurgence of discussion about ethanol is a waste of parliamentary time. Ethanol is an inferior additive, not an alternative fuel, and environmentally wasteful. It consumes more kilojoules of energy in its production than it produces in the fuel tank of a car," TACC General Manager Malcolm Little said.
For more information, contact Malcolm Little at TACC on 03 6278 1611 or 0408 398 670