Spanish associations join forces to encourage energy transition with Autogas

The Spanish Association of Liquefied Gas (AGL) and the Association of Vehicle Conversion Centres (ASTRAVE) have partnered to promote the important role of Autogas in the energy transition. This collaboration will include joint campaigns focused on the general public and coordinated actions before different bodies of the administration. The goal is to claim the contribution that LPG can play in the short term as an alternative fuel in the path to decarbonisation.

According to an AGL study, a greater penetration of Autogas would save up to 3.9 million additional tonnes of CO2 in transport alone in 2030, making it the sector with the greatest potential for reducing CO2 emissions. This savings in emissions, added to what would be achieved in other sectors such as industry or homes, would allow total savings of 6.4 million tonnes; or what is the same, an additional 2.2% for the objectives of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). This plan sets a reduction in emissions of 23%, while deploying LPG to its maximum capacity, this decrease could reach 25.2%.

The PNIEC ambitions would be achieved, to a large extent, thanks to a greater use of Autogas, an objective for which the conversion of engines is essential, as promoted by ASTRAVE. This sector recalls that the adaptation of gasoline and diesel vehicles to LPG is a more sustainable, economical and immediate alternative than the purchase of new vehicles; a statement supported by two arguments. On the one hand, the conversion technology is well established and mature to be implemented immediately, unlike other transport alternatives such as electric or hydrogen vehicles, still in the development process.

On the other hand, and as a primary reason, because it helps reduce CO2 and particulate emissions compared to other fossil fuels; which is why gasoline vehicles that comply with the Euro 4 standard or higher, and diesel vehicles that comply with the Euro 6 standard, when converted to LPG, obtain the ECO label.

Betting immediately on the conversion to Autogas would mean that many of the vehicles currently circulating on Spanish roads could be polluting, at least, around 15 or 20% less thanks to the installation of a bi-fuel or dual-fuel system. Therefore, the same effect would be generated as a substantial renewal of the car fleet, without the need to demand a significant outlay from citizens.

“By promoting technological neutrality in transport, citizens are given more democratic and equal access to the different mobility alternatives,” said Javier Navarro, President of ASTRAVE. “Almost three out of every four cars that circulate on our roads today could cut their emissions thanks to LPG, which would have a very positive effect while the technologies that will mark the sustainable mobility of the future are finished being developed.”

Xavier Martínez, President of the AGL, also commented: “Autogas offers environmental, economic and social benefits that more than guarantee its use in a transition context like the current one. We will promote it with the same rigor and transparency and now, hand in hand with ASTRAVE, we will fight for a favourable framework that will allow bioLPG to take off definitively and become a reality sooner rather than later, also for use in the vehicle sector.”

Source: ASTRAVE/AGL

21 June 2023