ROI (Return of Investment) calculation and savings

There are few factors to consider when calculating the ROI.
1) Your current vehicle fuel consumption mileage compare to NGV mileage per km.
and
2) How far do you travel daily? The further you drive the faster the ROI.

At petrol price of RM1.92 per litre as after 28 February 2006. My current mileage for Wira 1.5L aeroback carburetor is about RM0.22 per Kilometer after the petrol increase.

Currently, my NGV mileage is RM0.06 per kilometer for city driving. The NGV mileage will be better if you were to run on highway and can go down to RM0.05 per km.

Price per Kilometer comparision
Petrol RM0.22 / km
NGV RM0.06 / km

Saving of RM0.16 /km that is about 73%

If I were to drove 60km daily for 30 days per month.

Total distance 60 x 30 = 1800km

Total fuel price consume per month:
Petrol RM0.22 x 1800 = RM396
Natural Gas(CNG) RM0.06 x 2100 = RM108

Saving per month is RM288

The installation of NGV conversion kit in malaysia for carburetor :
about RM3000 at most.

How long (month) do I need to drive for actual return of my NGV kit investment?
RM3000 / RM288 = 10.4 months

In about 10.4 months or 18720 km (1800km x 10.4 mth) you will get back your investment .

Investment Point of View
(Which one do you invest? Fixed Deposit or NGV Conversion?)

Imagine if you were to put RM3000 into bank for Fixed Deposit at 3.7% per year, you will only get back RM9.25 per month.

Now you get RM288 of return per month for RM3000 of investment. That is 115.2% per year of interest. Where can you get such bank that offer that much of interest.

If you were to get RM288 per month from bank for Fixed Deposit at 3.7% per year, you have to deposit RM93405.

Why not invest RM3000 for the NGV conversion kits to start your saving unless you have RM93405 in your pocket to earn the interest of RM288 per month.

Remember, the saving will be greater if you were to use your car for highway travelling.

I am saving RM3456 (RM288 x 12) a year for just for normal city driving range. Imagine if you are a sales man and driving outstation a lot. How much do you save?

Furthermore you will also save on the Car Service as the engine oil is cleaner now and also save on the road tax by 25%. Roughly per year I will save more than RM4000

Interesting Facts:
Investing in NGV Conversion Kit is like getting a new Fixed Deposit certificate of amount RM4000 every year , year after year. How would you like it?

or

Renting a house that does not need buy but you still get rental of RM340 per month from the tenant.

Summary:
I am just driving a Proton Wira 1.5. If you were to drive a MPV, VAN, Lorry, higher CC car or driving outstation. The amount save will be multiply.

My First Full Tank of Gas

On the 17 Dec 2006 morning, I went to Tamming Jaya Petronas to fill in my first tank of Natural Gas. I was having difficulty locating the place to pump the gas at first. It was at the site of the station where you have to queue at the back of the station. There is a sign written for Taxi only. Maybe it is because majority of the NGV users are Taxi driver.

There are two station and only one occupy. So i drive in the empty slot and fill in my gas. There is an attendant to help to pump the gas. Basically you just have to sit in the car for Tamming Jaya Station and pay the fee after the tank is full.

From an empty tank, you can fill up with RM8.80 of gas at rate RM0.68 per litre.

On my switch there one square light on the left to indicate Petrol mode and 4 round lights on the right to indicate the level of gas pressure in the tank. Once it reach the last round light, you can still use your car as normal and when it will blink which indicate that it is almost empty. Then you have to switch back to petrol mode.

How does the switch operate? If the switch was on the left hand side, it mean operating on Petrol mode and right hand side is operating on Gas mode. There is a Idle mode on the middle of the switch where you use it to burn all the remaining Petrol before switching to Gas mode.

If you need to switch from Petrol to Gas, you have to turn to Idle Mode to burn off the remaining Petrol in the Carburetor then only you can turn to Gas Mode, else your car will be jerking.
If you need to switch from Gas to Petrol, you do not need to turn to Idle Mode. Just turn to Petrol Mode on the left hand side of the switch immediately. This is because the gas can be burn out much faster then petrol.

You can start your car either in Gas or Petrol Mode. For Gas mode might need to press the pedal a bit to pump the gas in the carburetor to start the car faster. Mean if you in Gas Mode and you fill in your gas tank on time when it almost empty, mean you will hardly turn back to Petrol mode unless you need more pickup during in hurry or where there is not station for you to fill in Natural Gas.

My first experience of NGV summary:
The pickup is lesser comparing to the Petrol version. You have to press the pedal harder to push the car. Maybe my car is heavy and my plug is old. That's why the pick up is not that great. But when it reach a certain speed, its run as normal.
I was driving my car to work, so I don't need a great pick up as the morning rush hour traffic is bad. Most of the time my car is idle or slow.

Installation of CNG / NGV conversion kit into my car

I am driving a Wira 1.5 Aeroback carburetor, a locally made car in Malaysia.

After doing some research online about CNG / NGV conversion kits. Below are the pro and cons

Here are the list of reasons to install the CNG / NGV conversion kit (PROs):
- More economical / efficient combustion(1.5L car running 150km only spend on RM8.50)
- Cleaner engine and environment friendly. Reduce global warming.
- Due to cleaner engine oil oil filter will be cleaner and there save more money in car maintenance
- Natural Gas is much cheaper. Is always more than half the petrol price per litre. Petrol price in Malaysia will increase if world oil increase.
- Improving national security by easing this country's dependence on foreign oil and can reduce government subsidy money which can be used to develop the country
- CNG / LPG / NGV conversion kits are tax free
- Road tax Reduction by 25% for duel-fuel vehicle
- More Natural Gas station will be available in coming future.
- Safe (not easily combusible). Natural gas is ligther than air, thus easily diffuses when exposed to air therefore it make it safer in potential exposure. For the past 50 years of supply, there was no record of human damage.

Of course there are (CONs) as well:
- Need to install a cylinder at the back of the car about the size of home gas cylinder. Slighly bigger. There is a smaller cylinder available. FYI even though you get a big cylinder, you will not get the whole tank fill up as the gas station will only fill up at a certain pressure level and stop. Request for a smaller cylinder tank.
- Natural Gas burning mode pickup is not as good as petrol mode. If you were to drive in KL during the morning and evening rush hour, it is alright as most of the time your car will be low speed.
- Need to find the right time to fill in the gas. If you fill in at KLCC, basically it is very fast as there are more than 10 stations there. Others places, try to avoid filling during peak hours that is morning and evening. Certain station like at Taming Jaya and Seri Kembangan queue are shorter.

Finally I have made up my mind and decided to install the conversion kit on my car.

I have called up the Petronas officer to sent my a list of Installation site and LPG station.

After doing a long list of calling and comparing, finally I was engaged with a person to buy the LPG kit.

On 15 December 2005, I sent my car for CNG / NGV kit installation at Jalan 222. Installation was done by a local authorised conversion installation site and my kit was bought from a a local dealer that supply for BRC brand LPG conversion kit. This brand was made in Italy. According to my friend from India and the supplier, Italy so far have the best LPG kit in the market.

The installation was completed on 16 December 2005 evening.
The installation for Carburetor car are around RM2600 to RM3000 (~USD700 to USD800) and for Fuel injection is from RM4000 to RM5000 ( ~USD1100 to USD1350) including the LPG kits, LPG cylinder tank and installation fees. (Everything).

I have made an agreement with the conversion kit dealer to help to promote his kit online in the internet. Their services is very good and friendly. If you are interested, please write to philipngcc@gmail.com for actual price enquiry for the conversion kits and installation site. Please provide your mobile number, we will contact you.

More posting coming ....