UK
LPG In The UK
In just 5 years the autogas market in the UK has grown from only 3,000 vehicles to 100,000 vehicles representing the most rapid rate of growth in Europe (see Chart 1).
In the same period the refuelling sites have grown from only 200 to approaching 1300 today (see Chart 2), which represents an investment by the industry of over £100 million.
| Chart 1: LPG Vehicles In The UK (*source: Green Car Congress) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,500 |
13,000 |
39,000 |
65,000 |
89,000 |
98,000 |
107,000 |
117,000 |
||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||||||||
| Chart 2: Public Access Refuelling Sites (*source: strategy.gov.uk) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 |
285 |
640 |
1,000 |
1,200 |
1,300 |
1,400 |
1,450 |
||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||||||||
This is a major success story for UK industry and the environment with 117,000 vehicles saving around 95,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum compared with petrol and substantial local air quality benefits compared with diesel. However, this still represents only a tiny fraction of the 27 million vehicles on our roads today.
The UK exports around 3.5 million tonnes of autogas per year and with the current autogas usage at around 100,000 tonnes, it is clear that supply is guaranteed for the foreseeable future.
