CNG conversions now cheaper

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 38, 10 March 1987, Page 7 (Supplement)

CNG conversions now cheaper

The CNG industry has announced a new conversion scheme designed to attract customers in the wake of the recent petrol price hike. From Monday 2nd March CNG conversions will be much cheaper and come with an unlimited mileage one year warranty. The new conversion loans and warranty scheme will be available from a selected group of about 1 50 installers throughout the North Island. The new scheme will be run by Autospan under contract from the Gas Association of New Zealand. Autospan's project Manager Mr Richard Francis said the scheme is simply designed to make it much easier for New Zealand motorists to convert their vehicles to CNG. "What we have done is to significantly reduce the upfront costs of converting to CNG and at the same time

provide our customers with the confidence of a full warranty on materials workmanship and vehicle performance,"said Mr Francis. The new scheme comes at a time when the price difference between petrol and CNG has again increased to a point where there is a renewed interest in alternative fuel conversions. "The motorist would be foolish to expect that in the long term there would not be significant price savings in using CNG rather than petrol," said Mr Francis. NO DEPOSIT LOAN The new loan for CNG conversions will be for the full cost of conversion with no deposit required. There will be a true interest rate of 10%, down from the previous 17% Government sponsored loan. And there is no fixed time limit on the loan.

It is provided by the BNZ subsidiary, New Zealand Card Services Limited, which also has a similar scheme for LPG conversions. Those installers who are part of the Autospan scheme will be able to arrange credit which in most cases will be authorised straight away. The General Manager of New Zealand Card Services, Mr Steve Hewitt, says that those who take a CNG conversion loan will receive a monthly statement and will have to make a minimum payment of 5% of the existing balance. "Interest will be calculated at a daily rate so people can pay off as much or as little as they like within the guidelines,"said Mr Hewitt. "That means cheaper motoring from day one." FULL WARRANTY The new Warranty on CNG conversions is in two parts. The first, for materials, parts and workmanshipisafull 1 2 month unlimited mileage cover transferrable throughout the country. The second is a 10,000 kilometre or six months warranty on vehicle performance which is also fully transferrable. All accredited installers have been selected as those who meet strict criteria in terms of expertise, experience and specialist equipment.

"One of our requirements is that every vehicle should be given a pre-conversion check to make sure that it is suitable for conversion to CNG," said Mr Francis. "Our prime objective will be to make sure that the quality and standard of CNG conversions is nothing but the •highest." "We will give every vehicle a full performance test after it has been converted to CNG for exactly the same reason." Another requirement is that after the vehicle is checked every conversion" will be done to a written quotation price. Mr Francis said that Autospan's objective has been to tighten up all the criteria for conversions to CNG. "The reason is obvious and that is that while the alternative fuels industry was rapidly expanding there were a number of conversions done which did not meet appropriate criteria at all," he said "and that reflected badly on the industry." "Now we are confident of our technology, which is highly regarded throughout the world, and we know that our installer network will maintain the standards necessary to keep CNG as the prime alternative fuel." Mr Francis said that CNG was now well established as an alternative fuel to petrol in New Zealand with over 100,000 vehicles using it every day. "The image of the old V8 with CNG has now well and truly gone," he said. "The cars which are seen on the roads with the CNG sticker now are more recent, highly efficient models which are suited to CNG, and that is a good indication of the impact we have made on the New Zealand motoring scene over the past few years."