I Drive on Biogas Too
Have you ever thought about buying a gas-powered vehicle? In this article, three owners of gas-powered vehicles from Espoo talk about their experiences. All of them fill up with Finnish, low-emission biogas and recommend these vehicles to everyone as an easy, inexpensive and environmentally friendly option.
Who am I and what is my role at Espoo?
My name is Markku Kinnunen and I work in Espoo’s City Surveying department. My job is to carry out aerial surveys, which are used to compile a base map, for example.
What type of a gas-powered vehicle owner am I?
I have a gas/petrol Seat Ibiza. I drive 25,000–30,000 km/year for normal family reasons, mainly in the Helsinki region. This spring it was time to get a new car. We used to have two cars, one that ran on petrol and another that was a small electric one, but its battery was not big enough. We could not afford an electric car with a bigger battery and petrol is expensive, so after careful consideration a gas-powered vehicle seemed like a prudent decision. We have not regretted it.
What is the best thing about gas-powered vehicles?
Driving them feels exactly the same as driving a car that runs on petrol. The engine might be a bit louder, but it is still quieter than a diesel engine, although this, of course, depends on the make and model.
You can do 380 km on biogas, and the tank holds 14 kg. The petrol tank is 9 l, which is enough for 140 km. You can cover quite a distance with that. However, you must visit filling stations more often than with a petrol car, but the filling itself takes about the same time. One kilo of gas equals about 1.5 l of petrol.
The car uses roughly a litre of petrol per month, or a bucket-full a year. That is because it will initially use petrol whenever you cold start the engine. Once it reaches operating temperature, the fuel source is switched over to gas. The driver will not notice when this happens or if the car changes from one fuel to the other while driving because you have run out of gas or petrol.
You get more mileage for cheaper: if you do 25,000 km a year, you will save around €1,000 annually compared to a petrol-powered car.
The filling station network is good, particularly in and around Helsinki. However, outside of this region the number of stations is still quite low, but the payment options are the same as when filling up with petrol.
The price of gas-powered vehicles is the same as for their petrol counterparts. The maintenance needs are also the same, or maybe a bit more extensive (the gas equipment must be checked every year).
You should not feel nervous about gas: it will not cause any more risk of explosion while driving or if you have an accident than petrol will.
Would you recommend a gas-powered vehicle to a friend?
The best thing about these cars is that fuelling up makes you smile, thanks to the near zero emissions.’
I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to save money on fuel and drive more cleanly. Biogas is made from things like food waste.
Who am I and what is my role at Espoo?
I am Emilia Lyly from the City of Espoo’s Youth Services, where I work as an instructor. I run ceramics groups for children and young people at the Gräsa Youth Handicraft Centre.
What type of a gas-powered vehicle owner am I?
We have a 2014 Volkswagen Golf. We bought it used in 2017. Our car is a hybrid that runs on both gas and petrol. At the time, our home was 100 km from my husband’s workplace, and the cheaper gas prices compared to diesel (which our previous car used) was an incentive to buy a gas-powered vehicle. We were saving as much as €200–300 a month.
What is the best thing about gas-powered vehicles?
Being able to drive as cleanly as possible makes me feel good. Driving a gas-powered vehicle is ecological if you use biogas. Fuelling up is also more convenient: you just hook up the hose and then wait in your warm car for the tank to fill up!
Would you recommend a gas-powered vehicle to a friend?
Yes, I would recommend them to everyone. A hybrid model is also handy if you are driving in an area where gas is not available. The car will swap from one tank to the other seamlessly, without you even noticing.
Who am I?
My name is Jani Mattson. I work in knowledge management for the City of Espoo’s Mayor’s Office.
What type of a gas-powered vehicle owner am I?
I bought my family’s current car, a gas- and petrol-powered Volkswagen Passat, as a pre-owned import through a car dealer in 2018. At the time, I was hoping to shift to low-emission driving, and a gas-powered vehicle allowed me to do this within my budget. However, a low emission level requires that you use biogas instead of natural gas or petrol, which reduces the carbon dioxide emissions to the same level as or lower than that of electric cars.
Initially, I drove more for work purposes, but since I changed jobs and started working remotely because of the pandemic, I have been driving less. Running family errands, taking the children to their hobbies, visiting our summer house and going on longer summer holiday trips have all gone smoothly. The car is spacious enough for us, and its features and performance level also suit us.
Without actually calculating it, I would estimate that the fuel costs when using biogas are about the same as with petrol, when you include the tax on driving power. However, the spike in fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine meant that for a while driving on biogas was cheaper than on petrol.
What is the best thing about gas-powered vehicles?
The best things about gas vehicles are their low emission levels and the fact that you do not really need to compromise on anything. For example, you can use a tow hitch to tow a load like you would with a petrol-powered car. They are also flexible when it comes to fuel: they have two tanks, one for gas and another for petrol. When you run out of gas, the vehicle switches over to petrol while driving without you noticing a thing.
Initially, I felt a bit bewildered when fuelling up with gas, but I quickly got used to it and now it is just like any other routine. The metropolitan region has a sufficient filling station network for our needs, and you can also find plenty of stations along most main roads, with new ones constantly being opened. And when travelling further up north, where the network does not yet reach, we have been able to use petrol. Our most exotic fuelling experience was in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, at an independent filling station next to a biogas plant. It was quite invigorating to the senses, thanks to the rather powerful odours. Luckily, fuelling up here in the city involves fewer aromas.
As a minor downside, some gas-powered vehicle models can have slightly smaller boots, because the gas tanks take up space. In my Passat, there is less extra storage room underneath the bottom of the boot compared to petrol models, but the actual boot has the same dimensions.
All in all, driving a gas-powered car is easy and carefree. I have had the same maintenance done as you would with any used car, nothing more.
Would you recommend a gas-powered vehicle to a friend?
Yes, absolutely, if you can find a make and model that is suitable for your needs and wallet! In my opinion, a gas-powered vehicle is a really good choice at the moment. Going forward, I see various driving power options being useable, depending on how the different technologies develop, so I would not declare electric cars the winning solution just yet.
Biogas is generated at HSY’s plants in Ämmässuo and Suomenoja in Espoo. Gasum refines biogas in Suomenoja to be used as fuel in transport, in addition to which biogas is used for generating heat and electricity. Biogas is a form of local energy and improves self-sufficiency. The more organic waste we can collect, the more local biogas we can produce.
For more information:
The Future of Biogas webinar offered perspectives on the current situation of biogas and envisioned the prospects for its use in the near future.
Espoo compared the life cycle costs of diesel trucks to biogas.
Traficom subsidies for the purchase of a low-emission vehicle(external link, opens in a new window)
The article is made possible by the RAKKE project. The City of Espoo Solution path to sustainable growth ecosystems (RAKKE) project is funded by the Uusimaa sustainable growth and vitality support (UKKE) funding.
