The Fed’s offer a tax deduction in the USA, it’s $2,500 and in Canada it’s $2,000 to convert a car or light truck to use propane. Some U.S. states and Canadian provinces also offer a partial sales tax rebate that you paid for your vehicle. This amounts to an additional $500 or more so contact your state of province for the details.
England has gone gangbusters on the use of LPG for cars and trucks with national rebates. It drops the pump cost of fuel to less than half of gasoline and diesel fuel. The GM factory in Turkey makes many car models there that have factory propane conversions.
Ask any taxi driver in Australia or in Thailand, Cambodia and other Asian countries about LPG and they all know about it. In May 2012, propane was selling in Bangkok for 14 Baht per Liter while diesel fuel was about 30 Baht. At 31 Baht to the USA buck, that makes propane about 45 cents U.S. per liter. No contest especially when propane burns so much cleaner than gasoline, diesel or ethanol fuels.
In the USA the lowest pump prices for propane are around $2.10 but in California, for some reason, it is overpriced at $2.50 to $3.00 or more. That makes it about 55.5 cents per liter on the low end and at $2.75 per gallon that works out to 72.65 cents per liter for comparison.
In Canada, the Toronto market has used LPG extensively for the past 40 years. Around Toronto biggest airport, LPG is selling in for about 55 cents this month of May 2012 with a low Toronto GTA price in South Peel region on Royal Windsor Dr for 49.9 cents a liter as of 2 weeks ago. For comparison that is $1.887 per U.S.gallon. Calgary and other parts of Alberta was selling propane at the pump for about 62 cents per liter.
PROPANE can be used to replace water in shale rock fracing ( fracking ) because LPG is found underground with methane and they attract each other so more natural gas is recovered. The propane is chilled to make it a tell then sent down the pipe where it warms up underground to become a gaseous vapour. It costs about $100,000 more to use LPG instead of water but more natural gas or oil is recovered so it works out cheaper in the end ( as long as you find natural gas or oil ). The world’s experts in propane use for tracking was originally known as Canadian Fracmaster. With ownership changes and mergers etc, the company’s now known as Gasfrac of Calgary, Alberta. They have over 20 different patents on the use of propane instead of water when tracking. Over the past 1 1/2 years, Gasfrac has drilled over 1,500 wells with their patented gelled propane system and equipment. In 2011 Gasfrac drilled one demo well in central New York state and 2 demo wells in Texas. Watch for the latest this last week of May 2012 when Gasfrac is drilling a few wells with their special equipment and system in Ohio, USA. Trust me, this news story will be watched by the whole world. Canada is showing the Texans how to drill better, faster and with significantly better oil and gas recovery than traditional drilling methods. Now I will be banned from Texas for life….LOL. I love the smell of propane in the morning. My buddy in the Toronto Limo business, just converted his Chevy Suburban to be duel fuel propane 2 weeks ago. He drove 475 kilometers ( 295 miles ) on his very first tank full, with a 125 liter rated tank that holds 80 percent actual fuel. It took 98.6 liters to fill it and he spent $58.64 at the Toronto airport strip and paid 59.25 cents per liter. He drives fast at 120 to 130 kilometers per hour. Since this bad boy weighs over 5700 pounds empty, this is poor fuel mileage. He would use 25 percent less fuel if he drove at 100 to 105 kilometers per hour so his fuel cost would be about $44.00 for the same trip if I was driving. There were 7 people on board with luggage making it weigh over 7,000 pounds or 3,175 kilos.