Monday July 31, 2006

First gas/petrol bi-fuel vehicle conversion in Singapore

simontay78.wordpress.com -> motoring.asiaone.com.sg :

Singapore-based Scantruck Engineering has done a gas conversion on a petrol engine vehicle, which according to the National Environment Agency (NEA), is the first petrol and natural gas Bi-Fuel conversion here. A Mercedes Benz Vito 113 was chosen, courtesy of owner Mr Lim Sin Leng.

The gas conversion kit comprises of a multiple sequential injector module, dedicated ECU with spark advancer, regulator and a 60L gas tank. The most basic set up (regulator and mixer only) costs $2,498 including parts and labour. Mr Lim is paying $10.50 for a tank of gas, which can cover 160 - 180 km. Travelling the same distance using petrol would have cost up to $28. There is a slight power loss in gas mode, but a switch on the dashboard permits you to choose between gas and petrol. For the time being, there is only one refilling station operated by Sembawang Gas which is located in Jurong Island. NEA plans to have 3 more on the mainland by the end of this year.

- I had to practically rewrite the article in order to have a summary of satisfactory standard. My project leader pointed out this piece of news to me earlier, and Simon Tay has also blogged about it, but I put it off due to the backblog, and also due to my suspicion that, given the writing style, the article was more of an "advertorial".

Like Simon, I wonder about the utility of changing from one fossil fuel to another, although at the moment, it is forecast that Peak Gas supposedly arrives slightly later than Peak Oil. The bad thing is, as peakoilers should know, when gas peaks, the supply "falls off a cliff" (drops rapidly), unlike oil which has a more gradual profile of decline.

Also, do not forget that natural gas supplies 80% of Singapore's electricity. Do you want gas-based vehicles to compete with our power stations? A somewhat related issue has been raised in the international peak-oil community regarding cars using diesel - do you want diesel-run cars to compete for the same fuel with trucks carrying vital food and medical supplies in times of crisis?

(2006-07-31 23:56:17 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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