Apart from Petrol and Diesel-driven automobiles, there are cars running on LPG and CNG. Pros and Cons?

Question

Which is more economical? Which is safer?
Which burns more efficiently? Which gives better pick up?

Answer 1

Cars running on LPG are common in Australia and most town filling stations have LPG pumps. However virtually all of the cars are dual fuel and still maintain their petrol tanks. Most taxis seem to be LPG powered.

CNG is not much used with cars but I heard the other day that a milk tanker fleet operated near Melbourne is fitting CNG tanks. They also maintain their diesel tanks. One truck does a 300km (or more round trip) every day and the fleet manager says they save something liker $100 every day on Diesel fuel. Some bus fleets also run CNG, which is apparently more suitable for Diesel engines.

I dont believe that LPG produces as much power as petrol, but power is not important to taxis. You use rather more litres of LPG per 100km too, but LPG is much cheaper than petrol so there is a saving. This is mainly because there is less tax. When enough vehicles are on LPG, you can bet the tax will increase.

Cars running LPG have large cylindrical tanks in the luggage compartments, towards the front of course. In a severe rear-end shunt there is a danger of the tanks being ruptured, but most rear end shunts are not particularly violent. LPG cars must be inspected on a regular basis, I think yearly.

Answer 2

Tanks in LPG and CNC can survive quite the hit. Safety is not the problem. The tanks are large and heavy and if you don't have the proper network of filling stations, they are a wast of time. For fuel energy, in order it's diesel, petrol, LPG and CNC. Petrol generally has the best pick-up. The cleanest is CNC.

Answer 3

I think, petrol/diesel is safer than LPG under indian conditions, as due to excess heat in summers, the gases might expand, causing the cylinders to burst.
Though the gases burn more efficiently.