WHY DON'T WE HAVE AUTO GAS AT GAS STATIONS HERE LIKE THEY DO IN AUSTRALIA???

[Pete Masterson]

Hank, 

I don't know why "autogas" (propane?) is so relatively cheap in Australia. 

In the U.S., domestic heating oil (essentially diesel) is currently at an average price of $3.71/gal and propane (sold as domestic heating fuel) is currently at an average price of $2.66/gal here.

That makes propane about 30% less expensive per gallon than heating oil when sold in bulk for home use. I'm comparing the heating fuel prices because propane is not generally sold as a vehicle fuel here. These prices therefore compare with a similar level of taxation. I note that diesel road fuel is about $1.30 per gallon higher than heating oil and that would be a fair reflection of the typical vehicle fuel tax load including Federal, state, and local taxes.

For what it's worth, you're quoting "autogas" at about 65% less expensive than petrol per unit of measure. That is a pretty significant savings and covers the lower miles per gallon (kilometers per liter) you get with propane. 

Propane has about 92,000 Btu/gal while gasoline has about 124,000 btu/gal. So, your rate of use for the same amount of work is about 25% higher with propane.

So, adjusting for the difference between the costs and efficiencies, propane is only about 5% cheaper based on U.S. prices. This is a "savings" that would quickly disappear once the increased demand pushed up the cost of propane. 

For what ever reason, there is a substantial cost differential in Australia that does not carry over to the U.S. 

Another writer addressed the operating issues that occur in colder climates -- something that Australia, to my knowledge, does not have in a significant measure. During and earlier "gas crisis" many vehicles in corporate and government fleets were converted to use propane or compressed natural gas. In large part, those vehicles have not been replaced with similar technology when they were worn out. This would tend to suggest that, under the conditions of the various vehicle fleets, that the change was not economically advantageous. Corporate vehicle fleets are usually closely monitored for the economics of their operation, and if experimental operations prove effective at lowering costs or increasing efficiency, they will be implemented.

I note that there is some experimentation with converting transit busses to gasoline-electric hybrid operation like the Toyota Prius. The new owners of BB Coachworks are one of the vendors making such conversions.

Pete Masterson

'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"

On Jun 22, 2008, at 9:34 AM, Henry Jay Hannigan wrote:

<snip>

Let's see..I pay 62 cents a litre for "autogas" and $1.73 per litre 

for petrol(American gasoline) and miles per gallon differences 

between "autogas" and petrol and power difference are nearly 

negligible to me and over a million Australians utilizing "autogas."