Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: petrol price

This is topic petrol price in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 04-21-2010, 01:00 PM:

Yipeeee.ive just gone to lpg, I am so fed up paying extortionate prices buying petrol, I finally decided to get the car converted,it only took a day, and now I feel real smug at the pumps driving over to the little pump in the corner and filling up my 40 ltr tank for 62pence a litre, have any of you guys done it?or thought about it.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 04-21-2010, 02:11 PM:

My uncle did this in the 70's. Unfortunately its now about the same price as gas here in Calif. so no big savings to be had.

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 04-21-2010, 02:24 PM:

quote: Alan Plester
ive just gone to lpg

What is lpg?

Posted by Jonathan Smith (Member # 5609) on 04-21-2010, 02:30 PM:

It's funny that the country that INVENTED gallons isn't using them.

Roughly 10% of the world's population pumps gas in either an Imperial or U.S. gallon, contrary to the myth that the U.S. is the only country on Earth that hasn't gone fully metric.

I think I read that on a gas price website.

I'd recommend a better solution: Instead of playing a mind game with yourself, find a source of petroleum that isn't incredibly taxed by the government.

I think it is shameful taxing gas, er petrol, as the European Union does.

Having to rely on a train, subway, metro, bus, is just so incredibly limiting, ESPECIALLY if you are in the line of an independent contractor doing projector repaif.

Making the morning commute, with a well established transportation system, sure, but here it takes THREE TIMES as long, and costs nearly half as much to take public transportation.

I think only NYC and Chicago have efficient public transportation systems in the U.S.A.

Anyway, hopefully my next car will be hydrogen-powered. Gasoline is a great fuel source, but we in the western hemisphere have really done a number on it.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 04-21-2010, 02:45 PM:

Richard, it's Liquified Petroleum Gas or more commonly, propane.

Hank Hill would be proud.

Posted by Jonathan Smith (Member # 5609) on 04-21-2010, 02:46 PM:

Haha, NM, I thought he was saying he went from Imperial Gallons to Liters.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 04-21-2010, 07:17 PM:

We moved to metric as part of the EU.

Our public transport in large towns and cities actually works despite what you might read. On the Continent the transport is even better and cheaper but that's probably because they had/got to rebuild everything 60 years ago. Taxing Petrol is a way of paying for this and other public services.

The US is very different because you need a car there. Your urban areas have been built around the car. It would definitely be wrong to tax petrol excessively because it would deprive people of their only means of transport.

Alan I didn't realise it was that easy to convert to lpg. I might need a car in the next couple of months as I might be working outside London and if there are lpg pumps on my journey it may be an option. The expense of a car has always put me off in the past.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 04-22-2010, 07:30 AM:

Caleb
Yep, it was that easy. Lower insurance,lower tax, just a day to do, and then you hand over...£1100.00 depending on vehicle but if you do the maths, you begin to start getting a return after about 7/8 months. google lpg conversions in your area and go from there.
Autogas, will always pop up, that is one of the most useful as it has calculators in it.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 04-22-2010, 07:41 AM:

quote: Jonathan Smith
Anyway, hopefully my next car will be hydrogen-powered. Gasoline is a great fuel source, but we in the western hemisphere have really done a number on it.

Why? Hydrogen is not a fuel source. There are no Hydrogen wells. You have to make hydrogen either by converting petroleum products or making it with electricity from water.

If you make it from electricity (even "green" or nuclear sources) it still takes more energy to make it then you will get out when you use it.

Then, once you have hydrogen it is a pain to store. Liquid Hydrogen boils off rather quickly and takes up a ton of volume and compressed gas hydrogen still takes up a lot of volume.

The plug-in hybrid is probably the best way to go for efficiency in the near term especially as battery technology improves. You can get to a point where a majority of trips can be done electric only but you have the gasoline engine to extend the range.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 04-22-2010, 12:08 PM:

Sad thing about LPG in as well as E85 is that the BTU rate of both isn't as high as regular fuel. Thus the MPG-Km/L numbers drops a bit some per Mile/Km.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 04-24-2010, 05:06 AM:

Yes, thankyou for that info Monte, I had done a little bit of research, but at the cost of the stuff, I still thought it a good deal, I do not drive very many miles and any way of cutting, is going to be done,but thanks again for letting everyone know before going ahead.I believe the slight drop in performance is about 2percent.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 04-24-2010, 10:35 AM:

I LPG'ed my Range Rovers well over a decade ago.

True the calorific value is slightly lower than petrol, however real world tests on the rolling road and on/off the real road tell me that the drop in BHP is totally outgunned by the decrease in £/mile.

On petrol my 4l V8 Range Rover will return 22mpg on a motorway run, on LPG it will return 20.3 or thereabouts. LPG is less than 50% of the price of petrol, added to that the plugs last longer and the lube oil stays cleaner longer. The maths speak for themselves.

Maybe not worth doing on a 1.l Nissan Micra, but for us big gas guzzlers it's a godsend. Makes the cost equivalent of running my Range Rover near as dammit the same as running my 1.6l diesel Ford Focus. I know which I'd rather be driving [Wink]