The Lowdown on Alternative Fuel

Record petrol prices and concerns for the environment have led an almost universal acceptance that we need to look at investing in alternative fuels. Check out how readily available alternate fuels such as LPG Autogas, and Bio-Fuels are, the pricing and accessibility of hybrid vehicles, and what practical considerations and benefits comes from running a green business.

When NRMA Businesswise asked its members about green fuels, more than a fifth said they’d already converted their fleets to a greener option. Almost half said they were interested in following suit.

While there’s been a lot of noise about hybrids and bio-fuels, the reality is that the adoption of these alternatives is limited by practical considerations.

There are, for example, currently only five hybrids available on the Australian new car market. Three are premium priced models from Lexus and only two – the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic – are available at prices likely to be considered affordable by a business operator. That’s fine so long as your business needs a small-to-medium sized passenger car. If you want anything else – a van, a utility or a large sedan – you’ll have to look somewhere else.

Availability of Bio-fuels

Of the various bio-fuels that have been proposed, only ethanol is commonly available at service stations - at a ten per cent mix with petrol. E10 is fine as far as it goes, but the really significant C02 and running cost reductions come from running on E85 (a mix of 85 per centethanol and 15 percent petrol). Saab is leading the charge for E85 in Australia. Launched at the Australian International Motor Show last October, the Saab BioPower is a flex-fuel ethanol powered version of its 9-5 model, which can run on E85 or petrol, or any combination of petrol and ethanol from the one fuel tank.

“Since we put the first Saab BioPower test vehicles on Australian roads in January we have had a huge amount of interest from governments, ethanol producers and the general public,” says Saab Australia’s Parveen Batish.

“Based on this positive feedback we believe Australians are willing to invest in BioPower, which will help stimulate the demand needed to convince fuel retailers and regulators to facilitate the introduction of E85 fuel pumps at service stations locally.”

In Saab’s Swedish home market nearly 900 E85 pumps have been established since BioPower was launched two years ago and more than 20,000 BioPower vehicles have been sold. In Australia to date there are just two E85 pumps – one each in Sydney and Melbourne.

Benefits of LPG Autogas

One alternative fuel for which availability is not an issue is LPG Autogas. There are more than 3,200 Autogas outlets around Australia. In 2006, Ford Australia drove an LPG-powered Falcon around Australia, covering 13,000 kilometres as it passed through every mainland state and territory. At the end of the 23-day trial, the Falcon had used less than $1,000 worth of Autogas.

"Many people are debating about the need to encourage the development of alternative fuels, but the best and most viable alternative fuel is already easily available.” says LPG Australia industry development manager Phil Westlake
"With Autogas priced around 50 percent less than unleaded petrol, there are substantial savings to be made. The more kilometres travelled, the more you will save.”

"Autogas also produces extremely low particulate emissions that are otherwise visible as smoke, and has one of the lowest greenhouse gas emission lifecycles of all retail fuels," Westlake adds.

LPG typically has around 20 percent less ozone-forming potential (a measure of the tendency to generate photochemical smog), between 10 and 15 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions and only one-fifth the air toxics emissions.

LPG Autogas vehicles operate even more relatively cleanly when the engine is cold. Given that most urban-use vehicles are often used for very short journeys this means a significant reduction in ‘real world’ emissions.

These financial and environmental advantages have resulted in a strong shift in sentiment towards LPG use amongst professional fleet managers in recent years. Major automotive and building glass company O'Brien runs more than 200 Toyota HiAce vans on Autogas. O'Brien national purchasing manager Ian Forrester said that as petrol prices had escalated, so too had the fleet's uptake of Autogas vehicles: "Our operating costs blew out with every petrol price hike. LPG kept looking better and better."