As LPG vehicles disappear from Australia's roads, remaining drivers struggle to find fuel

Jun 27, 2023

Range anxiety is usually associated with electric vehicles, but owners of LPG vehicles are worried about where to find their next tank of fuel as the number of gas-powered vehicles steadily declines.

LPG vehicle owners are experiencing range anxiety as service stations pull out gas pumps

It is no longer practical to drive LPG vehicles in some parts of the country

Around 500,000 LPG vehicles were on the road when numbers peaked in 2013, but have been in decline for a decade

LPG grew in popularity in the early 2000s as a cheaper, cleaner burning fuel for vehicles drove hundreds of thousands of Australians to convert their cars to run on gas.

Mick's Pro Gas owner Michael Browning said he was converting a new car to LPG every day until business began to drop off more than a decade ago.

"In 2008, 2009 we were averaging five a week, that was just me and another bloke. Now it's down to one a year," he said.

Mr Browning has worked in the LPG conversion industry for more than 25 years and was worried the industry's decline would become irreversible.

"It's just going to get quieter and quieter. I can't see the gas industry coming back," he said.

"Personally I wish it would, it's a good fuel for Australia, we make our own gas here and aren't reliant on other countries."

LPG has been an attractive option for motorists due to the cost savings compared to petrol or diesel cars.

Melbourne motorist Stewart Perry said he had experienced significant savings from using LPG.

"It's about a 30 per cent saving overall," Mr Perry said.

"I think over the past 20 years I've driven about 400,000 kilometres, mostly in LPG cars.

"Being pretty reasonable with the estimate I think I've saved myself about $30,000 compared to driving the same cars on petrol."

Melbourne motorist Chad Moore nearly ran out of fuel on a family road trip last year.

"When we were coming home, we were somewhere between Sydney and Albury and [the car's fuel] basically ran down to zero, and we still had 15 kilometres to get to the nearest servo off the highway," he said.

"We didn't fill up at the next major town and thought, 'Oh yeah, we've got enough to get where we're going', so we should have topped it up [when we had the chance]."

LPG vehicle numbers peaked in 2013 with approximately 500,000 registered vehicles, and numbers have fallen to just over 200,000.

The decline has led to service stations removing LPG pumps and equipment, leaving motorists struggling to find alternatives.

Caboolture motorist Elena Shand started driving an LPG-powered vehicle last year and has seen service stations stop serving LPG, with the remaining ones regularly running out of gas.

"One minute they have it at the Ampol in Lower King Street in Caboolture, and I've said, 'What, have you shut down?' and they've said, 'No, we're just out.'

"The Shell was the last hope, so I went there last week and they had fuel, and a week later they didn't. They shut down the bowsers altogether without notice."

BK Foster lives out of an LPG-powered station wagon near Perth, where he has to travel 40 kilometres to the nearest service station.

"At the moment where I'm situated, my nearest servo is 40km down the road in Ellenbrook. There's a United and a BP and the United one has actually recently stopped selling LPG," he said.

LPG bowsers are disappearing from petrol stations across the country as customers and car manufacturers abandon the fuel.

"Speaking with the owner the other night actually, they're going to be phasing out [LPG] in the next year, two years."

Mr Foster is planning a move to the east coast where LPG is more accessible, however, the Nullarbor Roadhouse on the Western Australian border is the only service station currently offering LPG.

This left a gap of more than 1,000km between stations, meaning Mr Foster would have to refuel the car's pressurised tank himself on the journey.

"You can get these connector bits that connect to an LPG gas bottle, like a barbecue gas bottle, or a forklift gas bottle, then you connect them to your car," he said.

"I could do it, but it's going to be quite the treacherous journey for the sake that when I run out of gas I will then have to pull over and just hope that the LPG goes from one canister to another."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Energy Minister Chris Bowen acknowledged the decline of LPG vehicles over the past decade.

"Automotive LPG demand has fallen in Australia over the past 10 years due, in part, to the transition of large fleets to petrol-hybrid vehicles," they said.

"We will continue to monitor the fuel market and work with the fuel industry and energy users to ensure Australia's fuel security."

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