Many private car owners are preferring to convert their car engines to LPG to save cost of fuel. Such a trend has recently begun in the city.
Businessperson Mizanur Rahman Suruj, a resident of Uttara in Dhaka, recently used octane as fuel in his private car earlier.
However, he converted the car's engine to run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) after realizing that octane was way too expensive. After the engine conversion fuel cost savings is now about 35-40 percent.
Due to rising fuel prices in the country, many people like Suruj are now converting their car engines to run on CNG as well as LPG.
On August 6, the government decided to increase the price of fuel up to a maximum of 52 percent. To avoid this extra cost, car users are turning to LPG.
Md. Serajul Mawla, President of Bangladesh LPG Autogas Station & Conversion Workshop Owner's Association told Bangladesh Post that the gas crisis has been created across the country due to the depletion of natural gas reserves. Moreover, petrol, octane, diesel are harmful to environment. In view of this, autogas is very suitable as vehicle fuel.
“A few days ago, traders in this sector were disappointed due to various reasons. Now, we can see its bright future. Especially after increase in oil prices, the consumption of LPG has increased,” he said.
“The work for converting a vehicle engine to LPG has increased at least 10 times than before and the growth trend continues. However, due to the sudden increase in demand, the conversion work is going on at a slow pace due to the lack of necessary equipment. Hope it will speed up soon,” he added
Serajul Mawla also said considering the current high price of oil, converting a vehicle engine to LPG will save around 40-50 percent of fuel cost. That's why private car users are showing more interests in engine conversion.
Around 20 companies provide both LPG and CNG engine conversion services in the capital. There are hundreds of companies doing LPG conversion work. Apart from this, there are several online marketplaces for this service.
On the other hand, there are about 600 autogas stations across the country. Another 400 are under construction.
A new 1500 cc car can travel up to 10-12 km using by one liter octane. The average cost per kilometer is taka 12.27 (The price of octane is taka 135 per liter). On the other hand, it can move 7.5 to 8 kilometer by one liter of autogas. Per kilometer cost is around taka 7.77.
Instead of the use of octane, petrol and diesel as fuel in vehicles, eco-friendly liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) known as autogas is gaining worldwide popularity.
LPG is made from a mixture of propane and butane which has been used in the country since long as household fuel. LPG used as car fuel is called ‘autogas’. Diesel, petrol, octane, CNG and autogas are now being used as fuel for transport in the country.
Autogas is the main fuel for cars in developed countries. Many developing countries are also leaning towards it. Weight of autogas is one-third less than that of CNG. The risk of explosion is also much less as the pressure in the cylinder is less.
Being transportable, it is possible to set up autogas filling stations in any part of the country. Besides, its cost is lower than that of octane, petrol and other transport fuel. Considering this, the government has adopted a policy of giving preference to autogas over CNG as the fuel for vehicles. The use of LPG in transportation in the country started in 2005. This policy was made in 2016.