Ford's high-tech LPG promise

Ford is set to consolidate its dominance in the auto-LPG engine sector with the introduction of state-of-the-art liquid injection later this year.

The company used LPG Australia's second annual report card release to announce a technological overhaul of its 4.0 litre E-Gas six similar in magnitude to Holden's direct injection (SIDI) upgrade last year.

The upgrade is part of a $230 million investment in modernising and 'greening up' the company's Australian product range. As reported previously by the Carsales Network, the strategy will also see the Falcon fitted with the Ecoboost four late this year or early 2011, and the Territory engine range extended to include a turbodiesel option.

Over the last decade, Ford has claimed the local factory-fitted LPG segment virtually to itself. It's the only one of the three competitors in the large car sector -- Holden, Ford and Toyota -- to factory-fit dedicated LPG systems. While Holden and Toyota offer Commodore and Hi Ace models respectively with factory approved systems, they're effectively aftermarket dual-fuel packages bolted on to the finished product.

Ford's strategy has paid off over the years. Since 1999, the company has sold more than 100,000 factory-made, dedicated LPG vehicles. More than 56,000 of those have been passenger cars -- far in excess of any competitor's numbers.

So it should come as no surprise that the blue oval is the one to forge ahead into state-of-the-art liquid LPG injection. The new system benefits from Ford's dominance in the sector. Given the chance to cherry-pick the raft of competing technologies on offer from local manufacturers, it has come up with a system combining WA manufacturer Orbital's feeder and injection components with a tank from Melbourne-based Alternative Fuel Innovations.

At the announcement, Ford Australia CEO Marin Burela told CN the move hails from an important strategic direction differentiating the company from Holden and Toyota.

"Some manufacturers have looked to overseas markets to strengthen their local positions, whereas we've focused on remaining competitive and viable first and foremost in our home market."

Australia has one of the strongest rationales of any country in the world to go down the LPG path, with plentiful supplies and a well established retail infrastructure spread across much of our landmass. Around 3200 of our service stations -- that's close to 50 percent -- have LPG pumps.

Although the two will likely never find parity in fuel efficiency on account of a sizeable difference in energy density, liquid injection has the potential to substantially narrow the gap between LPG and petrol.

Ford's use of a dedicated engine mines its potential better than most through LPG-optimisation, primarily by bumping up its compression ratio a couple of points. This has long been one of the major bugbears of LPG's status as a 'poor cousin' to petrol. Most LPG conversions have been restricted to bolt-on dual-fuel systems using LPG as an adjunct to ULP, rendering them unable to make the most of LPG's 103 -- 107 octane content and consequent different combustion envelope.

What LPG lacks in energy density against ULP, it makes up for in other ways, making it highly cost-effective -- enough to warrant almost universal use in the national taxi fleet. There's enough in the ground around us to supply the world for several centuries at current usage levels, and, as yet untaxed on home turf, it enjoys a considerable price advantage over petrol and diesel.

Here's a conservative view of the LPG value proposition up against ULP. Ford's current dedicated E-Gas Falcon consumes 14.9L/100 km -- a 50 percent premium on the petrol version's 9.9L/100 km combined. That means it takes 50 percent more to carry the same vehicle the same distance under the same driving conditions. Dual-fuel systems reflect the compromise in an even larger gap.

But LPG is around half the price per litre of petrol. Indeed it often comes in less. At $1.20 a litre for ULP, that Falcon using 9.9L/100km of petrol will cost $11.88 to drive 100 kilometres. At $0.60 for LPG, the same drive will cost only $8.94, even with that massive disparity in fuel efficiency.

Now consider this: new generation liquid injection systems have the potential to close it to as little as five percent. Which takes that same 100 km drive down to around $6.24.

The key to the new system's efficiency lies in the way it keeps the LPG under sufficient pressure to remain in liquid form through the injector and into the intake manifold. The moment it enters the manifold the pressure is released, allowing it to expand back into gas. This has a near-freezing effect on the air with which it mixes, keeping the mechanicals cooler to boost power and fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

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