11). Unleaded fuel at nine-month high

The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol in the UK has risen above 96 pence for the first time since August last year.

Analysts say the price rise is largely due to the gradual rise in the price of crude oil. This has coincided with the usual heavy demand for petrol during the American summer driving season.

Unleaded petrol cost 96.04p per litre on average, with diesel at 96.84p according to fuel analysts, Catalist.

On Thursday, Brent crude oil gained 3.3%, rising $2 (£1) to an eight-month high of $70.27 a barrel, due to fears that problems at US refineries, where output levels are already low, could constrict petrol supplies.

On Friday, Crude fell back to just above the $70 mark.
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10). LPG beats biofuel in carbon-cutting race

LPG autogas is the answer to reducing motor carbon emissions, according to Mike Chapman, autogas manager for the LP Gas Association. He said that while the debate continues about the carbon benefits of biofuels, it is a known fact that LPG reduces emissions from petrol vehicles by 20%. In addition vehicles using LPG enjoy major air quality benefits when compared with their diesel counterparts.

"LPG autogas is now well- established with strengthened government support in the last Budget guaranteeing the fuel duty for three years. This means that the price of LPG at the pumps will continue to be around half the price of petrol and diesel for the foreseeable future."

Current fuel duty on LPG is 6.105ppl compared with 48.35ppl on petrol and diesel. Between now and 2010 the duty on LPG will rise by 6.305ppl to 12.41ppl while that on petrol and diesel will rise 5.84p to 54.19ppl.

Chapman added that there are more than 20 million petrol vehicles on our roads and he reckoned converting to LPG offers the cheapest and quickest way to make a significant reduction in carbon emissions. "A real difference to the environment can be made now. With a national network of more than 200 LPG autogas-approved installers and with the price of LPG at the pumps being so low, many motorists will even cover the cost of the conversion in their normal motoring," he said.

Conversion of a modern car engine costs around £1,600. LPG autogas is currently available at over 1,300 outlets.
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9). VW launch ultra efficient diesel after four years development

AutoLPG answer: Our customers do not need for spend £12000 or use expensive low resistance tyres. Our courtesy car a ford mondeo 1.8L (conversion cost £1400) was taken by us for a trial run. We went from Bradford to Bury , Lancashire. From Bury to Birmingham. Finally from Birmingham back to Bradford. The car had done 300 miles on 44 litres of LPG (car had done some travel before the trial on same tank of lpg) and still had lpg in the tank. Cost 300 miles on £17 of LPG. So if we drive for 600 miles (more than the VW) it would cost us £34. This considerably less than the £40 it would cost for 45 litres of diesel used by the VW. So if you want to look after your pocket and do not want to spend £12000 and worry about expensive low resistance tyres then LPG is the why to go. Please email info@autolpg.co.uk

BBC article

It wasn't so long ago that you rarely heard the words green, low emission and cars in the same sentence. At this year's Geneva Motor Show, which begins this week, they will be speaking of little else. Car manufacturers are under pressure from the European Commission to deliver more environmentally-friendly models. They also know that the way to win over new customers is via their wallets.

Cheap and green
So the answer is to come up with a car that is cheap to run and is also clean and green. Volkswagen's response to this agenda - albeit one which VW says has been in development for several years - is the Polo Bluemotion. The firm has backed diesel rather than the hybrid petrol/electric technology favoured by rivals. The Bluemotion, it says, will deliver more than 70 miles to the gallon - a figure which should deliver more than 700 miles from its 45-litre diesel tank.

From Germany to London
But it has to be said when the BBC drove the car, the range was rather less than that. We took the car from VW's headquarters at Wolfsburg in Northern Germany to BBC Television Centre in West London - a distance of 566 miles - on a single tank of diesel. The in-car fuel management system had predicted that we would run out at around 630 miles. VW pointed out that we had been driving constantly on motorways at 70 mph or so, not the most fuel-efficient form of driving.

Big investment
At £12,000 or more, the Bluemotion, due to be launched in the UK later this year, won't come cheap. But Dirk Pesditschek, one of the design team leaders, believes the low running costs will be the priority for most drivers. "If the mileage is high enough, you can for sure reduce the total cost of the car with the lowest running costs for this model," he says. The company says the fuel economy starts with a high-tech turbodiesel engine. Aerodynamics tested at VW's wind tunnel in Wolfsburg boost the car's efficiency, as do low-resistance tyres.
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8). Record Number of LPG re-fueling points on petrol forecourts

There is an alternative to petrol and diesel and at only around 42p for a litre of LPG many consumers are asking where they can get this great environmentally friendly fuel.

Well, there is excellent news. LPG has far and away the best availability of all the alternative fuels. There are now over 1300 public access re-filling points in the UK which means that you can fill up virtually wherever you are in the country. And to make life easier, the gas companies have extended their £50m + investment to increase the number of filling points on petrol forecourts. These now total over 800 with the remaining sites being located at various stores and depots.

Shell lead the way around 1 in 5 of their petrol stations selling LPG with BP following closely. Tom Fidell, Director General of the LP Gas Association said “it has never been easier to run a vehicle totally on LPG to save money and the environment”
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7). FREE parking in Sheffield city centre

FREE parking is to be introduced in Sheffield city centre for motorists who run environmentally-friendly cars as the first stage of an attempt to improve air quality. Later this year anyone owning cars using certain types of fuel, including electricity and liquid petroleum gas, or LPG, will be able to apply for a permit costing one penny which provides access to all municipal car parks in the city centre. The permit will allow them to use any of the car parks without charge, up to the permitted maximum stay. A pilot scheme involving around 60 motorists is already operating and is regarded as a huge success by transport planners. They have monitored car usage among those vehicles and know that many are used by more than one person, probably colleagues in many cases. Sheffield Council accepts that high levels of car use will remain, but wants to use incentives to make motorists look at alternatives, such as improved public transport and the free parking scheme for vehicles that cause less harm.The logic behind the scheme is that one car producing little pollution, bringing several workers into town, is less damaging to the environment than each of those occupants driving a normal car. The worst polluters are buses and lorries and Sheffield Council wants to open discussions with operators to look for ways to reduce emissions. Officials also want to work with the Highways Agency to try to reduce the impact of traffic on the M1 on communities in the area. All the plans are detailed in a new Local Transport Plan for South Yorkshire, which will go before Sheffield Council's Cabinet for approval next week. If approved, the plan would make the city centre a low emission zone.
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6). Germany supports autogas to 2018

The German Bundestag recently extended tax reductions for autogas through to 2018, sending a clear signal that Germany sees that autogas can play an important role in helping to diversify the country’s fuel dependence away from petrol and diesel.

This is seen as another long term commitment to LPG in Europe.
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5). UK fuel prices reach new record

The average prices of both unleaded petrol and diesel have reached its highest level yet, according to the AA Motoring Trust.

The average petrol price reached 96.13p per litre on Thursday, while diesel stood at 98.81p per litre, the AA said.

On Tuesday, the boss of Britain's biggest oil company said high oil prices could push petrol prices even higher. BP chief executive Lord Browne said soaring crude oil prices "may well create petrol prices above a pound a litre".
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4). UK LPG Duty Frozen till 2009

The government has extended the freeze on LPG duty for another two years.

Good news for all motorists who are thinking about converting their cars to run on LPG. The government has shown further commitment to the long term support of LPG in the 2006 budget.

In what has been seen as an endoresment of LPG's cleaner air credentials the budget extends the duty difference between LPG and petrol/diesel to 2009. Currently duty on LPG is about 6p/litre and petrol 56p/litre.

Contact us on 01274 733555 or email info@autolpg.co.uk to take advantage and cut your fuel bills.
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3). Warning to consumers

A warning to the consumer was highlighted recently, following Inspections undertaken by Trading Standards Offices in various parts of the country. These investigations have highlighted a large number of Substandard conversions by companies who are NOT LPGA Approved and consumers can avoid these problems by contacting the L.P.G.Association to obtain details of the LPGA Approved Installers in their area on www.lpga.co.uk. When a vehicle has been modified to run on LPG the owner must notify his / her insurance company, otherwise the cover will be invalidated. The result of a recent survey of Motor Insurance Companies has given a massive endorsement to the LPGA Approved installers scheme. 16 companies, who cover the majority of the market, would not charge an additional premium if an LPGA Approved installer undertook the conversion of a vehicle to run on LPG. As a further warning to consumers considering converting their vehicles to LPG, 15 companies said that they would NOT INSURE THE VEHICLE AT ALL, if the conversion was not carried out by an LPGA Approved installer.
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2). The best thing since sliced bread

“The best thing since sliced bread, ” says John Gilroy, Managing Director of Thomas Proctor and Sons Ltd, I have cut my fuel costs by 50-60% and LPG cars are just as reliable, run exactly the same as any car. We have five years experience of running a substantial fleet of LPG cars they are very, very reliable and we have had no major problems at all”

John Gilroy purchased his first LPG vehicle five years ago. He says, “We decided to buy one and try it out – a Vectra estate. We thought that if it was no good we could still run it on petrol anyway, but as it turned out it was very good so we bought another one and another – and now we are up to 27.”

Thomas Proctor now runs a fleet of 27 cars and 10 commercial vehicles. The Company has no petrol or diesel vehicles. The fleet comprises a range of cars which include Citroen, Vauxhall, VW, Ford, and Volvos with Mercedes Benz and Ford long wheel vans.

The cars are mainly for representatives, the vans for distribution. The cars do 25,000 miles a year, and the commercial vehicles around 40,000 miles a year. John Gilroy says, “I save £1,500 a year on fuel costs for every car and £1,250 for every van. Over the year this means fuel savings of £40,500 on fuel savings for cars and £10,250 for the commercial vans. Admittedly, there are additional costs on servicing and retrofitting the cars.”
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Source: Interlink Express

CUTTING fuel bills by up to 50-per cent, and helping save the planet in the process - just five years ago liquid petroleum gas (LPG) was being hailed as an important new weapon in the battle against pollution and rising fuel costs.

There is a strong message beginning to come through the industry right now that LPG remains a cost-effective and practical alternative.

LPG fuel consumption is still around 20-per cent lower than that of petrol and, together with other potential cost savings, can represent a sound business move for forward thinking companies.

After all, any company able to demonstrate a responsible attitude to what are growing concerns about global warming and other environmental issues has the opportunity to create another area of distinction in what continues to be a highly competitive market.

For companies working with local authorities, NHS services, or other public organisations, for instance, there may eventually be increasingly green or clean requirements.

Carrier and delivery firms need to be ready to respond to this - especially as the global warming crisis is more likely to ultimately lead to governments chasing ever-stricter controls.

Opting for LPG, is seen as a forward step, an encouraging route for companies in an industry which is directly affected by soaring fuel costs and increasingly sensitive to environmental concerns.

One of the first Glasgow carriers to operate an entire LPG fleet is Gouranga (part & parcel) Limited, the local Interlink Express franchise.

The company employs 20 staff and operates 15 LPG vehicles , serving around 300 customers, from its two-acre site in Boden Street, delivering across the south-west and north of Glasgow.

Since taking over the Interlink franchise four months ago, it has replaced all the vehicles in the delivery fleet with Ford LPG Transit vans sourced on contract hire from Lombard Finance.

And the new franchise owner believes so strongly in the benefits of LPG vehicles that some of the staff, equally convinced, now drive LPG cars for personal use.

"We decided to change to an LPG fleet because of the environmental benefits, " says Andy Harbison, operations manager for the Glasgow franchise.

"We believe there are many like-minded people and discerning customers in the region who are concerned about global warming and pollution, who would appreciate the opportunity to use a local carrier committed to providing cleaner, more environmentally responsible forms of transport."

Some reports of problems following conversions, especially when short cuts may have been taken, reinforce the advice that the work should not only be carried out by a competent mechanic who is a fully trained and certified LPGA fitter, but that they are also trained specifically to fit the system being installed on the vehicle. Harbison says Gouranga has avoided any potential difficulties in any case, because their entire fleet is factory-built.

These Ford Transit LPG vehicles achieve Band 4 on the PowerShift Register, the cleanest emission levels recognised by the Energy Saving Trust.

"So far there has been a really positive reaction from our drivers about the vehicles, " adds Harbison.

"Not only do they have the obvious environmental benefits especially with the absence of diesel fumes in urban areas, but they also cut down on noise pollution, and produce lower interior and exterior noise levels, making it quiet for both the public and the driver. We also expect the reaction from customers to be very positive."

That's understandable. LPG might not just represent a good investment in a company's future - but also in the future of the planet.
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