Gas installations and LPG driving – how is it calculated? Guide

If you're fed up with high fuel prices, invest in an LPG car plant. Autogas is still half the price of gasoline and diesel, and these proportions are not yet expected to change.

Gas installations began to gain popularity among Polish drivers in the first half of the 90s. Initially, these were simple systems that played a lot of cruel jokes with users. However, due to the low price of LPG, it was gaining more and more popularity. Currently, more than 2 million vehicles running on this fuel are driving on Polish roads, and modern computerized systems work accurately without creating big problems for users.

LPG calculator: how much you save by driving on autogas

But what about the excise tax?

Last week, Pb95 petrol cost an average of PLN 5,54 at Polish gas stations, and diesel - PLN 5,67. Prices for both fuels increased by an average of PLN 7-8. LPG gas kept the price at PLN 2,85 per litre. This means that it is half the price of the other two fuels. According to Grzegorz Maziak from e-petrol.pl, this will not change for a long time.

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- Gas prices should not rise in the near future. And if the zloty strengthens, even a slight drop in the price of this fuel is possible, says G. Maziak.

On the other hand, a lot of bewilderment among drivers is still caused by the proposal to change excise rates for LPG. It was prepared by the European Commission. When determining the amount of taxes, the experts took into account the energy efficiency of the fuel and the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the environment by the vehicles they fill.

In the tariff proposal, nothing has changed in the case of gasoline. For diesel fuel, they imply an increase in prices at stations by 10-20 zł per liter. They make a real revolution in the LPG market. Here, the excise duty rate will increase from 125 euros to 500 euros per ton. For drivers, this will mean an increase in the price of LPG from PLN 2,8 to around PLN 4. According to Grzegorz Maziak, there is nothing to fear for now.

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Because it's just a suggestion. The planned date for the introduction of rates is only 2013. In addition, even if they were set at the proposed level, a transitional period is planned until 2022. This means that until then the tax will increase gradually each year, rather than jumping to a new rate all at once. Assuming that in Poland the payback time for the installation of LPG is 1-2 years, drivers can confidently convert cars, says G. Maziak. And he adds that in the context of the crisis and current turmoil in world markets, the introduction of new rates in a year is unlikely.

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Comforting information also comes from the Ministry of Finance. Here we have established that the introduction of a new directive requires the unanimous approval of all Member States. Meanwhile, Poland is against such a change.

Since the prices of LPG installations are also becoming more attractive, there is no point in waiting with a car rework. However, in order for the machine to work on gas correctly, it is not worth saving on appliances. At the moment, the most popular sequential installations with direct gas injection are on the market. They apply to the latest models of engines with multipoint electronic fuel injection. Their advantage is, first of all, in very precise work. Gas is supplied under pressure directly to the manifold next to the nozzles. The advantage of such a solution is, above all, the elimination of the so-called. outbreaks (read below). Such a gas supply system consists of electrovalves, cylinders, a reducer, a nozzle, a gas pressure sensor and a control system.

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- It differs from cheaper installations mainly in more advanced electronics. The biggest "minus" of such an installation is the high price. "Sequence" costs from PLN 2100 to PLN 4500. However, in many cases it is not worth saving on this, because a cheaper installation may turn out to be garbage that will not work with our machine, explains Wojciech Zielinski from the Awres service in Rzeszow.

Sometimes you can save

For older vehicles with less advanced engines, a cheaper setup can be installed. For an engine with single-point fuel injection, a set consisting of basic elements, additionally equipped with a control system responsible for dosing the engine with the appropriate fuel mixture and obtaining the best fuel composition, is sufficient. Omitting this device and installing the simplest setting can damage the catalytic converter because the engine will not receive the correct fuel mixture.

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The engine may also run rough, and over time, the petrol control device may fail. In such a situation, even driving a car on this fuel will be troublesome. To avoid them, you will have to pay PLN 1500 - 1800 for the installation. The simplest and cheapest solution is to convert the car with a carburettor-equipped engine. In this case, additional fuel dosing control devices are not needed. All you need is a gearbox, solenoid valves, a cylinder and a switch in the cabin. Such a set costs about 1100-1300 zł.

Governorate Bartosz

photo by Bartosz Guberna

*** Change oil more often

Riding on gas can accelerate wear on valves and valve seats, auto mechanics say. To minimize this risk, you should change the oil more often (and not every 10th, you need to do it every 7-8 km) and candles (then the car runs smoothly and burns gasoline correctly). Regular maintenance and adjustment of the installation is also important.

*** Beware of arrows

An incorrectly selected gas installation can lead to shots in the intake manifold, i.e. ignition of the air-gas mixture in the intake manifold. This phenomenon is most commonly seen in vehicles with multipoint petrol injection. There may be two reasons for this. The first is a spark that occurs at the wrong moment, for example, when our ignition system failed (engine failed). The second is a sudden, temporary depletion of the fuel mixture. The only XNUMX% effective way to eliminate "shots" is to install a direct gas injection system. If the cause of the explosions is the lean mixture, a computer for dosing the amount of gas can be installed.

LPG calculator: how much you save by driving on autogas

*** When the cost pays off

Who benefits from the installation? Assuming that the car consumes 100 liters of gasoline per 10 km at a price of PLN 5,65 per liter, we calculate that the journey for this distance will cost us PLN 56,5. Driving on gas at PLN 2,85 per liter, you will pay about PLN 100 for 30 km (with a fuel consumption of 12l/100km). Therefore, after driving every 100 km, we will put about 25 zł into the piggy bank. The simplest installation will bring us back after about 5000 km (price: PLN 1200). The single-point injection engine power supply will start working after about 7000 km (price: PLN 1800). The cost of a serial installation of the middle class will return to us after about 13000 km (PLN 3200).