Bongo Fury

With a LPG converted V6, I use a couple of BP Autogas filing stations a lot. Family Farm on the A34 just before the M40 and Warwick Services on the M40 going towards Birmingham. This weekend I found Family Farm had removed the pump and when going on to Warwick to fill up, both pumps were out of use and I was told that they were no longer stocking autogas.

I managed to make it to Telford on the M54 where the pumps on the services are Calor and of course filed up with an emergency full tank of petrol as well instead of my usual half. Coming back I filled up with Calor again and made it home on a full tank of gas.

Is this a coincidence or a policy decision by BP? Locally my two suppliers are Shell and Calor so I am not stuck everyday. Its a worrying development if this is true as a lot of my long range journeys involve BP. Going to Cornwall its BP all the way. The two closed stations both seemed very popular. Family Farm is often sold out of gas in the summer, as is Tot Hill further down the A34 which is Shell. Fortunately I filled up there and was just going to top up for a run to Wales.

Does anyone have any knowledge about what is happening?

May be
That's not the first time I've seen that asked on a forum
And someone said they asked the manager of a hp station
And he said
Yes over the next 6 months all bp stations are removing there LPG system
Franchise owned ones will carry on as they are

But that was over a year ago
But if the equipment is being removed
It could be for a refit / upgrade

Clear as mud. The LPG kit takes up quite a bit of space with above ground tanks. It could be safety rules as well. Everything has probably to be expensively replaced every few years.

My local Shell Garage has just replaced its LPG pump, so hopefully I am safe for a bit. would like to find out if there is a policy. Perhaps sales are dropping, although there is always a queue for the LPG pump. Just as diesel is now coming under fire for emissions as well.

It could be an expensive journey to Looe next month as the main places I fill up on the way are BP.

i do a lot of work in the coal fields supplying fuels, these old coal fields were being cleaned up for housing, the slag heaps were being reworked and the coal dust was extracted and burned in the converted power stations, long story but short answer is the carbon tax brought in by the new government.
all this work has now stopped as its now deemed uneconomic. this new government is now hammering every business that has big carbon feet.

about half of the lpg gas was produced by british oil refineries, but they are closing some of them so now more lpg has to be imported this raises the carbon footprint of the importer/processor.

this is a little old but shows the trend.

http://www.edie.net/news/6/Calor-s-emis ... -imports-/.

or maybe there are changes in the air in the gas industry.

http://utilityweek.co.uk/news/uk-govern ... duAoCVViko.

either way the user will be the last to know.

My local BP garages still stock it but at super high prices, so I don't go there - probably not helping the situation! Morrisons and Flogas are the cheapest in my area however garages aren't installing it anymore. I got a 130 litre tank fitted in my Volvo to ensure I can maximise the time running on it.

I also have been hoping that now the u-turn on diesel has been made, LPG becomes more viable again.

hydrogen is the way to go mate, its comin. or rather its here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Mirai

I reckon a 130 liter LPG tank is around twice the capacity of a lot of normal motors .. where is that fitted on the Volvo ..??

The hydrogen article is far too technical for me. How about nuclear fusion next. Whatever you choose it looks like luck of the draw. Never seen one electric car charging point in use.

Next perhaps back to my granddad's Rayburn to heat the whole farmhouse and a Series Land Rover ran on Red Diesel plus a bit of aviation fuel from the RAF station up the road.

Even further back great granddad's bike and the floor to ceiling range. All these except the bike ran on fossil fuels though. He also worked at a blast furnace, and probably had a personal hole in the ozone layer. Great great granddad had shire horses and a dray. Still I bet they farted though.Whatever way we are stuffed.

How this fits in a era when estate agents give you pitying looks if your house has only got one bathroom and only two methods of heating.

Filled up at Shell today with three queuing for the autogas pump. Meanwhile daughter in the states catches planes like buses.

"Something needs to be done" but can it? Politics without joined up thinking.

Northern Bongolow wrote:hydrogen is the way to go mate, its comin. or rather its here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Mirai

My first meeting with a Hydrogen powered vehicle was on a 1959 Vauxhall Victor,a long long time ago,the inventor was a gentleman called Mr John Crawford from Motherwell (another Scottish Inventor)

Northern Bongolow wrote:hydrogen is the way to go mate, its comin. or rather its here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Mirai

OK gang, who's going to design a retrofit hydrogen cell unit (with good torque) for a Bongo, cos I'm not about to dump mine over a bit of a diesel issue (incidentally, the particulate issues relate essentially to congested urban streets - in the countryside maybe its pesticide sprays etc that need assessing for risk to the public )

mikeWalsall wrote:I reckon a 130 liter LPG tank is around twice the capacity of a lot of normal motors .. where is that fitted on the Volvo ..??

I've got an S70 and it just fits inbetween the wheel arches in the boot with about 10mm either side. It couldn't be tighter. As I have the Bongo I could sacrifice load space as I don't need to carry much in the Volvo. Anything requiring load lugging, the Bongo comes out anyway. Half the boot is taken with the tank, mind you the half left is still nearly as big as the other halves Golf boot!

Hydrogen is a way off, the difficulties in compressing it as it doesn't compress to liquid as efficiently as LPG so you would need a very large tank to get good range and the very small molecule size of hydrogen means special composite tanks and fittings will be required. The hotter burning temperature will also cause cylinder head issues.

We were looking at it pre recession with a LPG kit supplier and a local university, but it went on hold.

There is a local supplier to me that supplies CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) .. It must be a huge tank for that as it's mainly used in coaches / lorries / big wheelers etc: ..

Several suppliers by me have stopped selling LPG .. or gone over to a 'gas card' in the machine ..

The BP garage next to Bramhall lane in Sheffield has just had a revamp and the LPG has been removed as part of that!

Got to drive another 3 miles to morrisons now

Yes BP are removing all the LPG equipment from Company Owned Sites,it is not viable for the expense/outlay .