Things to be considered before fitting CNG or LPG in a car

Here are a few things you should consider before installing a CNG or LPG kit in your car.

1.    Your Budget – If you don’t have a high budget, you should go for LPG which would cost you around Rs 19 to 23K. But the running cost of LPG is 2.5 times that of CNG. The other option is to fit a second-hand CNG kit. Before buying a Second-hand Kit see if the cylinder has a valid certificate and have passed all the safety tests.
2.    Distance you travel everyday – If you travel a long distance (more than 50 Km) then go for CNG which will justify your initial investment of 40K Rs as well as the daily running cost.
3.    Size of your car – CNG cylinders are very huge and heavy usually eating up all you boot space. So if you have a small car or say a hashback then you may not want the CNG cylinder peeping out of your rear window. Instead you would choose for a LPG cylinder which firmly fits in the space for your car’s spare tyre.
4.    How old is your car – These days the RTO does not pass CNG kits in cars which are older that 1996. I may be inaccurate at that, so please check with your RTO, or the agent if you want to use the kit in a legal way.
5.    CNG or LPG stations – If there are enough CNG or LPG stations is your way then only go for fitting the kit. If there is a LPG station where you can visit once or twice in a week then go for LPG, because with limited CNG cylinder capacity you would have to frequently visit the station which might not be possible for you.
6.    Your car’s engine type – It is usually seen that engines with MPFI does not perform well with CNG. But LPG runs smooth with these engines.
These were my suggestions, do share with me your thoughts.

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For a car, which is better LPG or CNG?

For a car, which is better LPG or CNG?

I have a car, should I fit a CNG or a LPG kit? This is a usual question many people ask. In this post I am not giving any direct answer to this question. But instead I would tell you the Plus and the Minus points of each of these and you find it out what’s suitable for you.

So let’s start with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). I had 1996 Esteem and I had fitted a CNG Kit into that. I had fitted CNG into my car because my daily running is of 60 Km and CNG is cheap cost around Rs 24 per Kg (in Mumbai).  So it’s a lot of saving.

When you run a car on CNG, the car would give you around +3 Km/kg mileage. For example if your car gives you 10km/ltr on petrol, on CNG it would give you around 13 to 14 Km/Kg.

So far, so good, now let me list down the negatives. First, the initial investment is very high at around Rs 36 to 40K. If your daily running is not high, then this seems to be no good justification for such a large investment which is a depreciating asset. Secondly if your daily running is high, then the standard CNG cylinders available are of sizes 10, 12 and 14 Kg of which 2 Kg is reserve. So you would have to frequently have to visit the gas station….and by the way the gas station can only fill your cylinder full if they have enough pressure. Also these cylinders are huge and heavy in size, eating all you boot space, especially in small cars. And in case if you are planning to move out of metro cities, then there are only limited numbers of CNG stations outside major Metro cities. Also you would find that there is a pickup drop and this is really evident when the Air condition is running.

Let’s move to LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). The initial investment is low, at around Rs 19 to 23K. You can have a custom made cylinder for LPG which can be fitted in the spare tyre space of your small car and still hold around 20 Kg of gas……because the gas is liquefied. As LPG is more combustible, the Pickup is improved. You would find more LPG stations as compared to CNG. For all you guys who love to break The Law, incase of emergencies, you can connect a domestic LPG cylinder to your car.

The negative points include that when you run a car on LPG, the car would give you around -2 Km/kg mileage. For example if your car gives you 10km/ltr on petrol, on LPG it would give you around 8 to 8.5 Km/Kg. Since LPG being around Rs 39 per Kg (in Mumbai) this turns out to be almost same as running cost on diesel.

There are also myths that running a car on CNG decreases its life. I don’t know how true this is, but as the experts say that if you take care of your engine and check the oil level at regular intervals then there are no harmful effects on the engine. I suggest if you opt for an engine oil specially made for engines running on CNG, I used SAE 20W50.

If your car is under company warranty, then make sure with your car manufacturer that fitting any external kit to your car voids the warranty. These days you get factory fitted LPG kits with quite a few cars, so if you are buying a new car, look for this option if it fits your criteria of car.

Well these were my inputs, do reply to this post and share your thoughts, questions, etc. and happy motoring…!

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Things to be considered before fitting CNG or LPG in a car