The increase in the price of Premium gasoline has not only made consumers, mainly taxi drivers, choose cheaper fuels, but also demand has turned to more affordable LPG. Autogas sales at service stations quadrupled in the last three years.

According to the Chamber of Petroleum Derivatives Distributors (Camdepe), monthly LPG sales went from 5,557 to 23,589 barrels (taking the month of March as a reference). Oswaldo Erazo, Secretary of the Camdepe, says this rise responds to the demand from taxis, the vehicles authorised to use LPG as an alternative fuel.

This transition means that, despite the investment in the LPG conversion equipment drivers must do, the advantages it represents in the short and medium term are stronger. The first effect is savings.

The conversion costs between $600 and $900. A taxi driver who normally travels 270 kilometres during a day needs to refuel his gasoline-powered car at a cost of $25. Doing it with LPG, says René Juca, manager of a local taxi cooperative, means that the driver has to pay just $8. In his company, he says, 80% of his 525 partners have already migrated to Autogas. For more information, please check this link.

11 May 2022