Autogas as a bridging fuel

Ultimately, achieving a truly sustainable, low-carbon road-transport system will require a wholesale move away from fossil- based fuels in the long term. Although it outperforms gasoline and diesel fuels, as well as most other alternative automotive fuels, in terms of local and regional environmental benefits, Autogas – insofar as it is derived from oil refining or natural gas processing – is still a fossil fuel and so gives rise to emissions of CO2, albeit lower than for conventional fuels. Yet Autogas could play an important role in mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions until such time as ultra-low or zero-emission vehicle technologies can be commercialised on a large scale. In this sense, fossil-based Autogas can be regarded as a long-term “bridging fuel”.

There are two ways in which Autogas can assist in driving down emissions during this transition:

  • Autogas could meet a bigger proportion of the incremental demand for new vehicles, especially in the emerging economies, where demand for passenger cars, vans, trucks and buses is growing fastest. To the extent that Autogas-powered vehicles displace those using gasoline or diesel, overall emissions would be reduced. Ultimately, the vehicle fleet is expected to become fully electrified, either based on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. But it will take decades to develop the infrastructure to produce all the vehicles that will be needed, build new power generation facilities to provide power for these vehicles, and install recharging facilities. In the meantime, other alternative fuels – including Autogas – will be needed to fill the gap.  
  • Autogas can displace gasoline in existing vehicles. LDVs have an average lifetime of more than ten years in the advanced economies and often far longer in the emerging economies, where maintenance costs are generally lower and restrictions on the use of old vehicles tend to be less tight. By switching to Autogas, emissions can be reduced immediately, rather than waiting until gasoline-powered vehicles in use are scrapped. The emissions benefit generated by converting older polluting vehicles can be very significant.

Many analysts believe that EVs will become the leading alternative-fuel technology in the medium term and the dominant technology in the long term. But the rate of take-up of EVs hinges on further reductions in the price of the vehicles, better performance, expanded recharging infrastructure and generous subsidies.

Ramping up production and sales of EVs will take time, simply due to the sheer scale of investment required. In the meantime, Autogas is well-placed to bridge the gap to a clean, affordable and sustainable transport system. In the longer term, Autogas derived from bioLPG could play a major role.