Gas back in style as pricey petrol turns drivers off

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Otorohanga taxi driver Bill Millar is a big fan of CNG - but he has to drive 29 km to fill his tank because his local service station shut its compressor last year.

Mr Millar has driven his van 772,000km on the gas without needing an engine rebuild, and he is annoyed that too little has been done to encourage the use of alternative fuels.

Twenty years ago, CNG and LPG were touted as fuels of the future, and were backed by Government campaigns to boost their use.

But those were scrapped in 1986, and annual CNG conversions have plummeted from their peak of 30,000 in 1984.

So what is the Labour-Alliance Government doing to promote the use of alternative fuels?

Energy Minister Pete Hodgson has indicated that it is looking at buying alternative-fuelled vehicles for its own fleet.

He said the Government was keen to take a leadership role, and was looking at measures to boost the number of imported vehicles running on alternative fuels.

"We can bring in a number of cars for core state sector services and in doing so, lead the way," he said.

"We can make sure there are enough cars around that mechanics are going to have to get used to working on them."

Mr Hodgson said the Government was most interested in cars built specifically to work on LPG.

One such car is the Ford Falcon Forte, which went on sale on Monday. Ford spokeswoman Lisa Franklin said the dual-fuel version, which runs on LPG and petrol, had sparked a lot of interest.

Skyrocketing petrol prices in the past year have also sparked a rush of vehicle conversions to LPG, although CNG is still declining.

The collapse of the market has been attributed to CNG's relatively low power and short range, and the fact that it has never been available in the South Island.

New converts are also being deterred by the scarcity of the gas - as Mr Millar has found with his taxi business.

Shell and BP say they no longer supply CNG, although some independent operators selling their fuel also sell it. Caltex has fewer than 10 CNG outlets left, and Mobil "just a handful."

Ford's Lisa Franklin said LPG was now sold at about 600 outlets - one-third of all service stations.

Diesel vehicles are making strong inroads in New Zealand, but nowhere near the levels of European countries such as Germany, where up to 30 per cent of new cars run on the fuel. Diesel has been criticised for being relatively dirty, whereas LPG and CNG are clean-burning.

Evidence from the latest boom in alternative fuel sales suggests that LPG will take over from CNG.

Shell spokeswoman Ainee Driscoll said the fuel giant was offering loans to commercial operators wanting to convert fleets to LPG. The price for conversions was $2000.

But the LPG boom is little help for CNG fans such as Mr Millar who said he was looking at hooking a mini-compressor into gas mains so he could fill his van from home.

"I'm not in the league for buying new Falcons," he said.