Stargas has opened a new Autogas station in the Atterbury Value Mart, Pretoria, and announced they plan to launch more in the future, with a view to increasing the amount of cars running on this fuel. During the opening ceremony, the company also made a demonstration of how Autogas vehicles work.

According to Stargas Director Fabio Casillo, Pretoria East was a good area for these service station because there were many power issues there. “People struggle to get LPG around here. We have a major gas supply in this country. We will never run out of this product, it’s the future,” he said.

“We saw a gap in the market because fuel in South Africa is very expensive. Many guys have cars but have issues with fuel, so we wanted to bring a different product to the market that is cheaper to run the vehicle,” he explained.

He also noted that the government initiative to roll out LPG conversions on taxis failed because they didn’t have the infrastructure. “So we are now reintroducing it, and all those 60-odd taxis that still have kits installed will be repaired and start the refuelling station,” he added.

Moreover, Stargas Director Andrea Casillo commented that LPG converted cars have been around for a while in Cape Town, Durban and Centurion. “What we are doing is bringing it to the fleets, to the Uber drivers and people who do serious mileage on their vehicles because that’s where the fuel savings come in,” he stated.

“Anything between 40% to 50% fuel saving depending on the vehicle and how heavy of a driver they are,” he concluded. “It has been in Europe for many years. On that side of the world, vehicles come with it installed out of the factory.”

An Uber driver who drives up to 5,000 kilometres a month could pay off his kit in about three months, according to Stargas.

Picture: Neil McCartney

Source: The Citizen

16 August 2023