On a classic car message board I frequent, one of the members is thinking about converting his car over to propane (what with gas prices getting so high) and no one there has any experience with it. Anyone know of any good reference sites or have any experience with it?
I’m thinking that because I see this as such a popular option where am currently located, it’d be best to look for the information in Spanish. I get a lot of Google hits in Spanish! Luckily Google will translate a lot of it for you if your Spanish ain’t up to par:
Oh, yeah, the search, strictly speaking, is for natural gas rather than propane. Adjust as you will.
During a recent trip to Lima, I noticed that the relative-of-a-friend who was my host had recently converted his car to propane. With gasoline around 10-11 soles (or roughly $3) a gallon, the $500 (American) conversion, he said, would double his fuel economy and, therefore, pay for itself. Apparently, Peru is aggressively expanding its fuel production facilities.
How about natural gas? Can cars be converted to run on natural gas? I think that’s there a good deal more NG in the world than crude oil certainly domestically.
This is unfortunately secondhand info, based on the experience of a friend who did this some years ago. Much may have changed in the interim, so YMMV.
It is apparently rather easy to convert a carbureted engine to burn propane. He experienced slightly less power and meaningfully less fuel economy when measured in miles per gallon, since propane’s energy density (per gallon) is something like 80% of petrol’s. Properly set up, the engine will run cleaner and take much longer to foul its oil.
A propane tank must withstand some real pressure and cannot safely be filled to the brim, so it will be heavier and bulkier than a comparable petrol tank. To get the same range requires a substantially larger tank, which may be challenging.
It’s plausible that the conversion is more difficult for a fuel-injected engine, but I have no info on that.
My friend had access to an “insider’s” price on propane, so the conversion made sense for him. Real-world comparisons will be difficult, since sources and prices of propane will vary considerably. Not much attention is usually paid to the issue of road fuel tax, as perhaps it should be.
Decreased range and the lack of fueling points in the US probably means that such a conversion probably makes sense only for vehicles that stay local to a dependable source of supply.
There are dual fuel versions which can burn either gas or propane.