How To Calculate The Costs Of Retro-fitting Ngv To A Car?

[aussiebebe]

Any NGV experts reading this forum, or anyone with experience of retrofitting NGV to a car, I'd appreciate any advice about the costs of doing so.

Specifically, does NGV increase insurance premiums? what servicing costs are there like the replacement (if necessary) of the reducer, injector, pressure sensor, gas valve, refilling valve, gas ECU? how often are NGV tune-ups necessary and what's the cost of these?

also GRP woven tanks reduce the weight - are these more expensive or widely avaliable?

Thanks if anyones got any comments - I'm not getting very far when I ask at Bangkok companies who carry out NGV conversions, they just give me answers like 'Depends' or they refer me to the fact that they offer a warranty for x number of months. Half the reason I'm considering this is to be more environmentally friendly, but financially, using rough estimates, I'm not planning to see any return on my potential investment of an NGV conversion for at least 2 years (based on average mileage and current fuel prices) so I'd like to find out more about the true cost of NGV.

Cheers

[katabeachbum]

Your real cost will be engine rebuild. Corolla Altis has a modified engine when sold with factory CNG. Valves, top, dont rememebr everything. sufficient to keep the 3year/100k km warranty.

[VocalNeal]

Sorry to get off topic.

In my humble opinion NGV is a flawed method of running a car, unless your weekly mileage is very low or you do short trips and you live near an NGV station. Reason ? Range per tankful is low say 180km and it takes longer to fill than LPG or petrol.

LPG is much more user friendlyand still environmentally more friendly. You get 300-350kms per tank and no you won't have to rebuild the engine. Yes it runs slightly hotter as there is no evaporative cooling but a standard engines cooling system will happily get rid of the extra heat. If really picky you can go to a spark plug one range cooler or if really flush put some 700 baht (each) "LPG" plugs in it. You'll need to get a 1500 baht oil injection unit into which you can put the expensive UCL liquid they sell at LPG stations, which is really a lead substitute designed for older pre unleaded fuel engines, or cheap two-stroke oil which taxi drivers use. 1/2 litre is good for about 7-10,000kms. Me I use a mixture of diesel and two-stroke to get a similar viscosity to the expensive UCL.

Cost for LPG conversion is in the 17,000-18,000 range for a single point system which most cars have. Upwards of 40,000 for a multiple point system. You will lose some trunk/boot space but that is the price you have to pay.

Only regs. I know is that the LPG tank cannot be closer than 18" from the rear bumper, so most are in the trunk or in the case of trucks under the centre of the chassis. When the car is old enough to require the mandatory safety check you will have to have the tank "inspected" and get and "Engineer" to sign a certificate stating it is in good condition about 1500 baht. This is when they will discover if the tank is too close to the bumper!!

One advantage of using LPG is that come oil change time, the oil is the same colour is was when it went in Oh and you are not driving around with a welding cylinder in the back of your car.

Edit: Just noticed you are in Bangkok. If you want LPG one place to go is on On Nut, Sukhumvit Soi 103. When turning from Sukhumvit it is the first small soi in the left. Very small. You have to pay as if you are going to park and then drive to the back. Usually you will see a line of Suzuki trucks waiting to get converted.

[aussiebebe]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate the comments and will take heed. Firstly, I hadn't considered the need for an engine to be rebuilt, so I'm glad I asked on this forum! Secondly, that's quite a good case you made for LPG - which I hadn't considered either - and seems like a very comprehensive summary of maintainence costs for LPG. Thank you both.

[mdechgan]

Your real cost will be engine rebuild. Corolla Altis has a modified engine when sold with factory CNG. Valves, top, dont rememebr everything. sufficient to keep the 3year/100k km warranty.

I agree, you will save on the actual cost of gas but it will be offset with maintenance and engine rebuilds unless the car was designed for use with CNG.