With high gasoline prices in Brazil, professional drivers migrate to CNG and save 50%

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After 11 consecutive increases in gasoline prices, drivers in the Federal District Brasília are increasingly turning to compressed natural gas (CNG), which, according to experts, helps save almost 50% of the expenses at the end of the month.

According to Uber driver Hugo Costa, with fuel prices at high levels, consumers, especially drivers of the transport system by apps, have been juggling to save money when it comes time to fill up.

According to Alexandre Pereira, owner of a company that installs the conversion kit for natural gas, the demand for the service has grown lately. According to him, due to the high price of gasoline, he does, on average, four installations a day this year.

“Before installing the kit, the customer has to go to Detran to get authorization. Once the authorization is granted, we perform the service in approximately six hours and, after that, the driver will save 50% in the monthly expenses. With natural gas, a car that does 10 km per liter with gasoline will do 14-15 km per cubic meter,” says Alexandre.

With gas prices exceeding R$7, more and more people have been seeking conversion, according to the Brazilian Association of Piped Gas Distributors (Abegás). However, because of extensive renovations to the vehicle, the conversion process is not cheap. Moreover, the cylinders significantly reduce the space available for luggage in the trunk of the car.

Compressed natural gas CNG

CNG is the name given to an alternative fuel that is less polluting and cheaper than gasoline. It is found in porous rocks in the soil and also in association with oil.

In Brazil, the fuel is extracted by Petrobras from the pre-salt layer, just like gasoline itself.

For a vehicle to be powered by CNG, the driver must look for workshops authorized by the National Institute of Metrology, Quality, and Technology (Inmetro) to install the gas kit (new or used) in his car; he must buy a vehicle prepared to receive the CNG installation structure or buy a used car that is supplied with CNG.

In short, the conversion kit for natural gas is infrastructure parts required for the vehicle to run on natural gas. Among these parts are the filter, filling valve, fuel flow and temperature, injector nozzle, pressure reducer, cylinder valve, pressure sensor, injector nozzles, gas, and water hoses.