Eco-Friendly Motorcycles To Make Their Debut

Monday, November 6, 2006

By Suzy Khimm and Kay Kimsong
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Liquid Petroleum Gas vehicles promise to more than halve the cost of fuel and slash polluting emissions by up to 87 percent.

Spending more than $2 each day on gasoline, 34-year-old motorcycle taxi driver Seng Sann said he would welcome any discovery that made fuel cheaper and his livelihood richer.

For Seng Sann and the rest of Phnom Penh's 500,000 motorbike owners, one company is betting on an economical, eco-friendly alternative to gasoline.

Global Impex Motor Cambodia Co has arranged to purchase conversion kits to turn standard gasoline-fueled motorcycles into Liquid Petroleum Gas vehicles, which will more than halve the cost of fuel and slash polluting emissions by up to 87 percent.

If the trial-runs of the converted motorcycles are successful, Global Impex will officially launch the conversion kits for general sale in Cambodia within two weeks.

"We are currently working out the best way to install the LPG kit," company Director San Saran said last week.

"I want to find out how to make [the vehicles] more convenient for the driver before making a public announcement," he said.

A research team in Vietnam originally developed the LPG-fueled motorcycles. Three hundred LPG-converted motorbikes were introduced last year in Danang, with conversion kits that were subsidized by the Vietnamese government.

Global Impex first introduced LPG-converted cars last year to Cambodia, and estimates that between 500 to 600 of its LPG cars are in Phnom Penh, with a further 700 to 800 in the provinces.

Composed of a mixture of propane and butane, the alternative fuel has been proven to reduce harmful carbon monoxide emissions by 30 to 90 percent smog by 50 percent and total hydrocarbons by 87 percent according to tests conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Motorcycles are more ecologically damaging than cars, emitting 16 times more hydrocarbons and three times the carbon monoxide, according to a study conducted by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research.

In urban traffic, a motorcycle's frequent acceleration multiplies the pollutants, resulting in total hydrocarbon emissions that are for greater than those of a car.

But ultimately it’s cost that may move motorcycle owners to make the switch to LPG.

At 1,800 riel (about $0.45) a liter, LPG is less than half the current cost of gasoline.

Ung Chhun Hour, director general for transportation at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, said that while the ministry was interested in researching the technology, he expressed concerns about its safety.

"The vehicles needs to be of high quality," said Ung Chhun Hour, citing a report of an LPG-induced car explosion four months ago. "I want to make sure the gas is safe to use," he said.

LPG tanks are safe to use, though proper installation is very important San Saran said.

The company plans to charge $100 per conversion to LPG, he added.

According to the World LPGas Association, LPG is used by more than 10 million vehicles in over 38 countries.