LPG in your car – alternative for PB95 and Diesel
Today I would like to present and compare an alternative for regular petrol and diesel engines. I mean Autogas in Poland, which means LPG installation in a car powered by gasoline engine. So as usual, have a look on a bullet list of subjects covered below:
LPG / autogas – what is this?
In my previous article about buying a car in Poland (click here to check it), I gave you an example of a fuel price in case of a regular car with petrol engine. Let’s come back quickly to result and have a look on my calculations below:
| Expected amount of KM driven yearly | 15000 |
| Usage of fuel per 100 km in liters | 8 |
| Price of fuel per liter | 4.50 zł |
| Yearly fuel cost | 5,400.00 zł |
What if I would have told you that you can reduce the cost of a fuel in case of 15000 kilometers driven yearly by 45% up to 55%? LPG installation (instalacja LPG). LPG is an abbreviation from liquefied petroleum gas, which is a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles. Yes – vehicles. According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), 53.9% of all passenger cars in Poland were powered by gasoline, 31.8% with diesel fuel, and 14.3% were cars equipped with LPG installations.
So, you might want to ask: “how does this work?”. LPG installations can be installed in a car with engine running on gasoline and diesel. Diesel and LPG combination is used almost only in case of long-range road transport (trucks or older types of buses) what makes it very low percentage of all cars driving polish roads. Therefore, I would prefer to stay focus on regular passenger cars, using combination of LPG and petrol.
Price brackets for good quality 4th generation sequence LPG installation in a car with 4 cylinders indirect injection engine oscillates between 2200 zł and 3000 zł. Price in case of engines with dedicated 6th generation with direct injection will be much higher. We talk about cost between 4200 zł and 4800 zł. Price depends on type of injection, number of cylinders in your engine, size of LPG container, brand of installation, eventual lubrification system, quality of parts used and location of garage.
LPG container instead of spare wheel 
Example of LPG gauge on a dashboard 
LPG filler next to the original filler 
Modifications under the hood
Allow me to clarify few facts here. Such installation is related with serious interference into your car. This means among other, installation of already mentioned LPG container, list with injectors under the hood of your car, small control panel on dashboard and LPG filler. But! Every single professional garage with good renown can perform such implementations without any harm done to your car. This is the reason why you should select garage with proofed experience and history. In addition, as we talk about costs, LPG installation must be maintained on yearly base, what might generate additional few hundreds zł left in a garage.
Cost of Autogas in Poland
What is the point of having LPG if the cost of installation is so high? Money saving! 1 liter of LPG cost is around 55% lower than the price of 1 liter of petrol. Car powered by LPG will consume around 20% more LPG than gasoline, but still, it is around 45% saving costs of driving each single kilometer. Let’s have a look on my calculations made below:
| Data used for calculation | Petrol | Diesel | LPG |
| Kilometers per year | 15000 | 15000 | 15000 |
| Fuel consumption per 100 km | 8 | 6.5 | 10 |
| Price of fuel per liter | 4.50 zł | 4.40 zł | 1.95 zł |
| Yearly total cost of fuel | 5,400.00 zł | 4,290.00 zł | 2,925.00 zł |
| Type of compare | Percentage of savings | Money saved |
| Petrol to LPG | 46% | 2,475.00 zł |
| Diesel to LPG | 32% | 1,365.00 zł |
2475 zł yearly saved. I took into the consideration average car of average polish family (Ford Mondeo MK4) with similar engine power, comparing diesel and petrol. What will happen if the amount of kilometers will increase, because you drive a lot? Below the same table with 30000 km per year:
| Data used for calculation | Petrol | Diesel | LPG |
| Kilometers per year | 30000 | 30000 | 30000 |
| Fuel consumption per 100 km | 8 | 6.5 | 10 |
| Price of fuel per liter | 4.50 zł | 4.40 zł | 1.95 zł |
| Yearly total cost of fuel | 10,800.00 zł | 8,580.00 zł | 5,850.00 zł |
| Type of compare | Percentage of savings | Money saved |
| Petrol to LPG | 46% | 4,950.00 zł |
| Diesel to LPG | 32% | 2,730.00 zł |
4950 zł in your pocket on yearly base. If you will drive with this car for 3 years, you will save 14,850.00 zł. Such amount positively influences the imagination. Money saved will grow respectively with amount of KM driven. Off course driving only 10 000 km per year with the same car, will reduce the possibility to save any money up to 1,650.00 zł
You migh donwload this calculator and play a little with data on your own:
What else do we need to know?
Taking into the consideration relation between diesel and LPG, the scale of savings seems to be lower. I had a few secondhand cars powered by different fuel: diesel, petrol and LPG. Diesel car which I bought was extremely expensive in maintaining. Off course – it was used car – not new one. Nothing changes the fact, that the money which I saved on fuel, I had to leave in a garage for never-ending story related with repairs. Turbine, dual mass clutch, fuel injection – always something. In my case – guy who is not buying new car from dealer – combination of simple petrol engine with LPG allowed me to save much more money than in case of diesel. Not only on fuel, but also visiting garage.
We need to take into the consideration, that not each single petrol engine will work fine with LPG – in some of the cases, gas may damage engine very quick. Especially older type of LPG installation 4th gen and lower may cause in some engines faster usage of valve seats of gasoline injection. It is important in such case to make sure, that petrol engine from your car, has a “green light” for working with LPG. Rule is pretty simple, in majority of the cases, bigger and less complicated engine will accept LPG much easier than small strained 3 cylinders engine.
It should be emphasized that a properly selected and installed gas installation reduces the emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere. If this condition is met, both – your wallet and air will benefit. Using LPG instead of petrol produces 20% less carbon compound. In addition, LPG does not emit sulfur and lead compounds. Also, nitrogen emissions are lower than with other fossil fuels.
Summary of LPG / Autogas in Poland
Like everything, also LPG has adventages and disadvantages, so let’s have a look on my summary below.
Adventages
- Reducing 45% of fuel costs
- Reduced emission of harmful compounds from exhaust gases
Disadvantages
- One-time cost of installation
- Additional cost of maintenance
- Less space in the trunk or no spare wheel
- LPG may not coopearate properly with each single type of engines (it must be discussed with mechanic first)
- Some of the underground parkings do not accept cars with LPG
What car would I advise against LPG? The one which drives very little, mostly through the city. So, what is the perfect candidate for LPG? Family station wagon which does long trips between the cities and performs at least 15000 km per year. Or! American Muscle 4.0 liters V6 engine, which stressed, consumes 15-20 liters petrol per 100 km 😉 Anyway – as always – the decision is yours. If you would like to make your own comparison, remember about my Excel calculator which I have added just under “cost” section.
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https://stat.gov.pl/; motofakty.pl; wikipedia.pl
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Electric car in Poland - Make Life Smart.pl - blog about living in Poland · 17/05/2021 at 10:36
[…] Electromobility in Poland is still in its infancy, and its development is not helped by the lack of a functioning subsidy programs. Nevertheless, the number of electric cars in our country is systematically (though slowly) growing. Of course, this amount is still nothing to compare with regular used car or car powered by LPG. […]