All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

$gas_tank = undef;

Beatnik on 2006-04-21T07:49:54

I knew I had to stop by a gas station really soon but not THAT soon.. When I got in my car this morning, the gas lights was blinking and my car computer stated I could run for another 0 kilometer before my gas tank was empty. Strangely enough, after 3 kilometers, the indicator was still at 0. I was REALLY happy to reach the gas station and I filled up my 50 liter tank with 51 liters worth of diesel fuel. Not sure how these numbers work but I'm glad they're working to my advantage.

LGP

Juerd on 2006-04-21T12:32:03

I'm so glad my car runs on actual gas. Well, liquified gas, but you can still rightfully call it gas. I can forget about the tank, and run it empty completely, and then simply switch to petrol and continue my voyage. It can even switch to the other fuel while driving.

Of course, I do try to pay attention to the indicator, because LPG is much cheaper than Euro 95.

It's unfortunate that Belgium still allows antique unsafe LPG cars, which means that their underground parkings have to forbid LPG. If this weren't so, I'd recommend LPG+petrol for your next car :)

s/LGP/LPG/

Juerd on 2006-04-21T12:46:33

It's LPG in most countries, GPL in some, but I've never before seen LGP so it must have been a typo :)

Re:LGP

Beatnik on 2006-04-21T13:52:08

I have a company car.. so I don't really have to care about the cost. I just have to think about actually filling my tank now and then. You don't actually see a lot of LPG powered cars in BE these days. The advantage of having a single fuel powered car is that it weighs a lot less.. which usually means you can drive faster ;)

Re:LGP

Juerd on 2006-04-21T21:37:05

You don't see LPG a lot in .be because of the many limitations. These limitations are safety measures, needed because LPG cars without modern safety mechanisms (like something that prevents the valves from being open when the engine isn't running) are still allowed there.

What Belgium should do is introduce and enforce better laws for LPG, and then after a few years open up the parkings. It's sad that they're much more than a decade behind other western European countries.

Fortunately, I can drive through Belgium on a single LPG fill, when I go to France :)

Also, bifuel doesn't have to weigh twice as much. My petrol tank is usually almost empty.

And actually, with modern LPG installations like LPi, cars often perform better on LPG than on petrol. In my car, this translates to noticeably faster accelleration. That makes up for the extra weight :)

Re:LGP

Beatnik on 2006-04-22T09:04:49

Uhm I can also drive through Belgium (pardon the swearing) with one tank :)

Re:LGP

Abigail on 2006-04-26T14:16:41

Belgium is small. Last time I crossed Belgium, we first crossed half of the Netherlands, then Belgium, then the north of France. Spend two nights at Euro Disney, then drove back. No refuelling.