Autogas has called on the Government to commit long-term support to subsidising LPG to encourage manufacturers and customers to invest in the fuel. Speaking at the Commercial Vehicle Show, the firm’s business development manager, Paul Oxford said that although LPG has benefited from lower fuel duty levels (currently 15.8p per litre) for 16 years, UK governments have never pledged to maintain their support beyond three years at a time.
“If we’d have known we’d have 16 years of support we would have a far bigger take-up,” said Oxford.
“We want continued support over a longer period – such as a 10-year commitment, like in Germany,”
He claimed this level of state backing had helped to increase the numbers of LPG vehicles in Germany from 40,000 to 500,000 within three years.
Oxford claimed motorists could cut fuel costs by 40% through using LPG rather than diesel and said there was now a network of 1400 refuelling points at mainstream fuelling stations across the UK.
