Alternative Fuelled Vehicles

ELECTRIC/HYBRID

• It costs as little as 1p per mile to run a car on electricity
• Electric cars are extremely quiet with zero tailpipe emissions
• Life-cycle emissions (including power generation and transmission) also show net environmental benefits for electric vehicles, but a key advantage is that health-damaging pollution is removed from urban centres
• Electricity has been favoured for city-based cars and small passenger vehicles with set journey patterns requiring limited range (around 50 miles), though it has also been trialled in some urban buses
• Electric vehicles can be fully recharged from any 13-amp socket in around seven hours. Vehicles can be effectively part-charged when they are stopped for shorter breaks, which can significantly increase range
• New generation electric/petrol or diesel hybrid vehicles offer significant emissions benefits without the range disadvantage traditionally associated with electric vehicles

LIQUIFIED PETROLEUM GAS
(LPG)

• LPG is very cheap due to the significantly lower fuel duty imposed by the government.
• A litre of LPG currently costs less than half the price of petrol or diesel on the forecourts (excluding battery lease costs).
• A litre of LPG allows a vehicle to travel approximately 75% of the distance it could travel on a litre of petrol
• LPG vehicles can significantly reduce the output of key target pollutants - nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulates - as well as contributing to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions which lead to global warming
• LPG refuelling points are being introduced all over the country. There were approximately 600 in the UK at the beginning of the year 2001 - and the number is expected to double within two or three years
• Most types of vehicle can be built, or converted, to run on LPG. It is easier and cheaper to convert a vehicle with a petrol engine than one running on diesel
• The typical cost of converting a passenger car or light vehicle to run on LPG is around £1,500 (this cost may be reduced by a Power Shift grant). More and more vehicles with a LPG option are now available direct from the manufacturers
• LPG has proved particularly popular as a fuel for cars and vans, most of which are bi-fuel; they carry both petrol and LPG and can change from one to the other at the flick of a switch

NATURAL GAS (LNG)

• Natural gas is available as compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• It has proved particularly popular for trucks, buses and larger vehicles. The extra weight and cost of on-board fuel tanks makes conversion to natural gas normally more expensive than LPG for smaller vehicles
• Natural gas vehicles can significantly reduce output of key target pollutants - nitrogen oxide (Nox) and particulates - as well as contributing to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions which lead to global warming
• There are a limited number of public refuelling points for natural gas. Many fleets have chosen to install depot-based refuelling facilities
• Refuelling options for natural gas range from cheap, slow-fill compressors which can refuel a vehicle overnight, to high-tech stations which can refuel a vehicle in a similar time to petrol. Installing a larger refuelling station can be expensive which means the economics work best when 15 or more larger vehicles are involved to spread the cost
• Natural gas is currently the cheapest of all the fossil-based fuels (including LPG) when fuel costs alone are considered. It costs under 6p per mile to run a smaller vehicle (compared with 10p or more on petrol)
• Natural gas engines are far quieter than diesel engines making these vehicles suitable for overnight deliveries and noise-sensitive locations