A New Initiative by the Japanese LP Gas Industry
By Makoto Arahata, Chief Representative of Japan LP Gas Importers Conference, Japan LP Gas Association
We started a new initiative to increase the number of autogas vehicles among LP Gas retailers in May 2010 here in Japan with the 27,000 active Japanese retailers. Each of these retailers will newly introduce at least one autogas vehicle every three years. They have trucks for transporting LP Gas cylinders from the filling stations to their customers as well as passenger cars to visit their customers for sales promotions etc. They have two or three cars at least and the number of cars owned by the retailers depends on the scale of their business.
- Didn’t they own autogas vehicles before this initiative? Yes!
Of course, they have used autogas vehicles for many years now but we believe that there is still some room to accommodate more autogas vehicles in their car pools.
It is true that some LP Gas retailers also operate petrol stations or that others have close business relations with oil product companies. Furthermore, among the retailers, or even LP Gas wholesalers and LP Gas distributers there are still some staff with the old perceptions of autogas. This includes the myths that the engines of LP Gas vehicles are less powerful than the vehicles running on petrol or that it’s not easy to start an engine on LP Gas in the winter season.
Autogas taxis were launched onto the market almost fifty years ago in Japan. And, up until a couple of years ago, the autogas vehicles manufactured for taxi use were still equipped with the carburetor type fuel supply systems. Comparing with the innovated fuel supply systems applied to the ordinary passenger cars on petrol, the carburetor type produced less power and less performance. But now the situation has definitely changed - the performances of LP Gas vehicles have improved and the car engines that run on LP Gas have become as powerful as those running on petrol.
The time has come to change the old perception of LP Gas and thus for autogas vehicles to be fairly evaluated in Japanese society. The pump price of autogas per litre for vehicles is almost half that of petrol. Autogas vehicles’ exhaust emissions contain less CO2 than cars running on petrol and diesel. Black carbon from autogas vehicles’ exhaust pipe is almost nil.
The industry has a lot of advantages in view of climate change issues and improvement of air quality in cities. Driving an autogas vehicle is economical too.
We have a proverb in Japan: He who first suggests - should be the first to do it!
In the last several years we tried to develop the autogas market, but regrettably the results of these efforts were not satisfactory. Through this initiative, therefore, we try to advocate the advantages of LP gas vehicles to our stakeholders, including the policymakers, to further develop the autogas market. Now we have about 280,000 autogas vehicles in Japan. We expect that in three years time that the numbers of autogas vehicles will increase by much more than 27,000.
2010 Eco-Car World
On 5-6 June 2010, we participated in Eco-Car World, an exhibition of environmentally friendly cars including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and CNG vehicles held in Yokohama city. This city has a population of 3.6 million. We succeeded in showcasing twenty types of autogas vehicles including the advanced autogas vehicles manufactured by Toyota, the retrofit Prius hybrid, trucks and small vans. We received more than a thousand visitors. One of the key attractions for visitors was the opportunity to drive an autogas vehicle and to experience for themselves the performance of an advanced autogas vehicle. Participation to this kind of exhibition is a part of our activities to promote Autogas. In addition to Eco-Car World, we held exhibitions of autogas vehicles in various places throughout Japan. Over the last year we were present in fifty places around Japan.
For more information on LP Gas in Japan please contact Makoto Arahata on Arahata.Makoto@mlg.co.jp
