While consumers are feeling the pain at the pump now, taxi drivers in Las Vegas are getting propane at the pump. In order to cuts costs and help the environment the Yellow Cab companies in Las Vegas, Nevada have decided to acquire some Toyota Priuses and convert some Ford Crown Victoria automobiles and other cars to run on both propane and gasoline.
The propane cars would start in gasoline mode until warmed up and then switch over to propane. Also, when the propane runs out the cars can switch back again to gasoline in order to give the driver time to make it to a fueling station.
Propane burns more cleanly than gasoline, but not quite as cleanly as natural gas. Consumers use propane all the time in this gas barbeques and camping stoves. The converted propane cabs are said to run 15 to 20 mpg farther than non-converted cabs with one-half the CO2 emissions.
Besides the Las Vegas cab drivers there are a number of other vehicle owners who have converted to propane as well. In order to take a road trip, many will have to refer to a handy dandy propane station locator map such as this one in order to figure out the best route from point A to B.
Yesterday, I talked about natural gas powered vehicles being a transitional technology to hydrogen cars. I also believe that propane vehicles also offer another alternative for transitional technology as well. Cars may be easily converted and there is already a decent amount of infrastructure already built.
Neither natural gas nor propane are as clean burning as hydrogen however. But, as far as making a difference now rather than waiting several years for hydrogen cars to roll out, you may want to turn in your gasoline vehicle and turn on to propane.
As they sang in the 1960’s “If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; propane.” (with apologizes to Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale).