How and what do we think?
Let’s take cars of different classes to determine where the benefits will be (and whether they will be) more noticeable.
Let the popular Lada Largus be responsible for the cars. In addition, until recently, the inhabitants of Togliatti offered a dual-fuel modification of CNG. At the other extreme is the massive and voracious Nissan Patrol. And in between fits perfectly the mid-sized Mitsubishi Outlander crossover with a 2.4 liter engine.
The average fuel consumption of Largus is 9 l/100 km, Outlander consumes a few liters more and Patrol – a whopping 20 l/100 km! It is not surprising that this SUV is one of the most popular candidates for the installation of LPG: almost half of the Patrols used run on gas. Besides, new cars are almost never converted to gas – few people want to fly outside the factory warranty.
In 2021, the price of propane-butane reached record levels, almost 40 rubles per liter. Today, a liter of gas costs less than 20 rubles in most regions.
A remarkable recent trend: methane has become more expensive than propane-butane (today 21.5 rubles / m3 at 20 rubles per liter). Together with the fact that the installation of methane HBO costs on average twice as much (about 70,000 rubles), as well as the weak branching of the filling network (six hundred for all of Russia), the interest of motorists to use natural gas has fallen almost to zero.
In specialized centers they confirm: now motorists are only interested in HBO for liquefied gas. By the way, there are no complaints about the lack of equipment, including imported ones. There are sufficient stocks for the near future.
Calculation
Lada Largus
Our experience is that Largus consumes an average of 9 l/100 km of petrol. At a price of 53 rubles per liter, it turns out that the cost of gasoline per kilometer is 4.77 rubles. With an average annual mileage of 15,000 km, they will reach 71,550 rubles. At 50,000 km, it will already be 238,500 rubles.
And if you drive this distance on HBO? It would be silly to multiply mileage by the cost of a gallon of propane-butane, because gas consumption is 15-25 percent higher than gasoline. If you calculate according to the average estimate, the cost of running one kilometer will be 2.16 rubles. For 15,000 km, the cost of fuel will be 32,400 rubles, for 50,000 km – 108,000 rubles.
It seems that the upside is significant: HBO’s installation will pay for itself within a year. But do not forget about the set of documents necessary for registering HBO with the traffic police – about 7,000 rubles.
In addition, for gas balloon equipment maintenance, it is necessary to come to maintenance every 10,000 km. It is cheap (on average 2,000 rubles), but an additional visit to the service requires additional time wastage, and if the car works, for example, in a taxi, you will inevitably lose money on downtime.
And a few more nuances. When switching to gas, the engine loses up to 10 percent of power. Largus is not particularly fast anyway and on propane-butane the dynamics become completely sour. In addition, a gas cylinder takes up a lot of space in the trunk – for a small car this can be crucial.
Mitsubishi Outlander
The average consumption of petrol is 12 l/100 km. So, the cost per kilometer will be 6.36 rubles, for 15,000 km – 95,400, for 50,000 km – 318,000 rubles.
On gas, taking into account our coefficients, a kilometer traveled will cost 2.88 rubles, 15,000 – 43,200 rubles and 50,000 – 144,000 rubles. In this case, the benefit becomes clearer. Installing HBO is less than a year. There is something to think about!
Nissan Patrol
20 l/100 km is the norm for this large SUV. Accordingly, a kilometer of running costs 10.6 rubles. The average annual 15,000 km will pull from your wallet 159,000 rubles, and 50,000 km – 530,000 rubles.
Willy-nilly, you will think about using HBO. In this case, a kilometer will cost 4.8 rubles, 15,000 km – 72,000, 50,000 km – 240,000 rubles. As you can see, the benefits of switching to gas for a large SUV are significant. And it is not overshadowed even by the higher price (as for other cars with V8 engines) of an HBO kit: 70-90 thousand rubles.
In addition, for a powerful engine, the loss of a dozen “horses” after switching to gas is imperceptible: you will not feel the difference in dynamics.
Sum up
Taking into account the current prices, converting cars to gas becomes profitable again. Plus, the more voracious your car is and the more you drive it, the more obvious the gains from using HBO become. In the case of a large SUV or minivan, I would do just that.
Cost of refueling petrol and gas* for a mileage of 50,000 km, rub.
|
|
Petrol |
propane butane |
Savings |
|
Lada Largus |
238 500 |
156 000 |
82 500 |
|
Mitsubishi Outlander |
318 000 |
192 000 |
126 000 |
|
Nissan Patrol |
530,000 |
333,000 |
197,000 |
*- including the cost of installing HBO, paperwork and “gas” maintenance
But I wouldn’t put HBO on a compact crossover or passenger car. And it’s not so much about the economy, but about power losses and unwillingness to sacrifice the trunk. Indeed, in a small car, the balloon will occupy a fixed part of the compartment, and this is both inconvenient and impractical.
Everyone decides based on their situation. You just need to take and calculate what is beneficial for you. Plus, we’ve already done most of the work.
- “Driving” can also be read on Viber.