Autogas has called on the Government to revise its assumption that bio-LPG will not be sold in the UK between now and 2020.

In its 2014 consultation on proposed amendments to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007, the Department for Transport said that “biomethane will continue to be the only gaseous renewable fuel supplied between now and 2020” – despite 160,000 tonnes of bio-LPG having been agreed to be supplied by Neste Oil between 2016 and 2020.

Linda Gomersall, head of Autogas, said: “With 1,400 refuelling sites supplying 155,000 cars and vans, LPG autogas is already widely used in the UK and bio-LPG should be taken equally seriously within government.

“Bio-LPG is chemically indistinct from LPG autogas, and can therefore be used by all existing LPG autogas powered vehicles without the need for modification. Bio-LPG is the future of LPG and should be recognised as a serious option for sustainable transport fuel.”

“With the Department for Transport predicting that from 2015 5% of new HGVs will be using gaseous fuels, as well as the huge opportunity to lower emissions from non-road mobile machinery such as fork lift trucks and generators, it makes perfect sense for the government to recognise bio-LPG as an option and to make the transition to gaseous fuels as smooth as possible.”

Autogas is calling for the following actions to be taken in parliament:

• The inclusion of bio-LPG in the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, as an important step in future-proofing the role of LPG autogas as a transport fuel;

• The removal of the current 1p a year duty differential erosion for LPG to place all gaseous road fuels on a level playing field in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 3 December; and

• The creation of an integrated road fuels strategy to acknowledge the long-term role that LPG autogas and bio-LPG can play as sustainable transport fuels.

Gomersall added: “The availability of bio-LPG in the UK some four years earlier than originally envisaged offers a breakthrough opportunity for the UK to take a global leadership position – so long as the Government creates the right political and regulatory incentives.”

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