[NEWS] What is the best fuel for your new car?

There is no correct answer there. Your own purchasing power, driving related needs and refuelling/ charging infrastructure available all affect the choice. For Tapio Leppinen from Oulu, biogas brought a saving of about 40 per cent in fuel consumption per month. The propulsion tax on a gas car is a strange remnant that should be removed, Leppinen says.

Tapio Leppinen became a gas car driver four months ago. Accurate accounting by this retired Master of Science in Technology, specialised in chemistry, reveals that this solution has been profitable for both the nature and his own wallet.

- I have this principle, that I only use biogas, although the price relationship between natural gas and biogas is irritating to me. Average consumption of my car has been 3.54 kilos of gas per hundred kilometres.

One hundred kilometres using gas for the fuel will cost around € 5.5. The equivalent petrol-powered Volkswagen Golf would swallow up to six litres, costing me nine euros, on the same journey.

In addition to gas tanks, the Volkswagen has a nine-litre petrol tank. If the gas runs out, the car switches from gas to gasoline without the driver noticing it. During Leppinen family drives, petrol became most important during their trip to Lapland.

- We got from our home in Oulu by gas to almost the municipality of Kilpisjärvi. After that, we had to drive more than a thousand kilometres with petrol. After a refuelling/ coffee break every couple of hours, it went quite smoothly.

Normally Leppinen refuels in Oulu at the Gasum station at Limingantulli. Another option is Kiertokaari Oy's waste station in Rusko.

"Propulsion tax should be removed"

Gasum sells both natural gas and biogas at its stations, while producers such as Rusko only sell biogas produced from waste.

- Even if we got a new refuelling station in Kemi, not to mention Rovaniemi, driving in Lapland would be much easier. Now Limingantulli is the northernmost gas station in the whole country.

Another drawback is the annual tax on gas-powered cars, which amounts to approximately EUR 200.

- A strange remnant, the whole tax, and should already be removed.

The Leppinen family's gas-powered driving routes have mainly crossed in the coastal area of Western Finland between Oulu, their former home town of Rauma and Honkajoki. In this area, biogas is generally well available.

- Gasum will immediately send an SMS if any station is under maintenance or otherwise out of service. Their service is very good.

In addition, driving is practically free. The biggest car dealerships in Oulu are committed to paying their customers 1,000 kilos of biogas for a period of one year.

- In practice, this means driving 20,000 kilometres if the average consumption is 4.5 kilos per hundred. With my own consumption, I could drive almost 30,000 kilometres a year.

According to Tapio Leppinen, the use of domestic biogas as a transport fuel is the best and most sensible circular economy there is, and the organic chemistry needed to combat climate change.

- Methane gas burns into carbon dioxide but does not increase the carbon load in the atmosphere. In any case, methane would be released into the air as the waste were decomposed. As biogas, it can be utilized.

Considering a New Car?

For all Finns, gas cars might not be the best option. Many people are now considering their driving choices for the future. We compiled the pros and cons of the various choices for comparison below.

Full press article in Finnish here: www.kainuunsanomat.fi/artikkeli/mika-on-paras-kayttovoima-uudelle-autolle-vertailimme-kaasun-sahkon-bensan-dieselin-ja-etanolin-hyvat-ja-huonot-puolet-170951425 