Many vehicle users must be racking their brains to see how they can keep using their cars with the recent hike in petrol and diesel prices set up by the latest meeting of the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM). The 20% rise of petrol might lead a large number of motorists to leave their cars in the garage more often than they used to. But this might not be the only solution. Some initiatives have more or less recently been launched to reduce the dependence of consumers on petrol and diesel. Although most of them are not widely used yet, they tend to show that alternatives are there?

■ Autogas

It is the cheapest fuel on the market at the moment. The price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is almost half that of petrol. Many car users have swapped from traditional fuel to LPG in view of this advantage. Consumption of LPG has doubled between 2004 and 2005. However, it requires an investment of between Rs 13,000 and Rs 25,000 to set up the equipment that enables a car to run on LPG. Recently, petroleum companies were raising the alarm because some consumers were running their cars on domestic gas. This practice is not only a potential danger during the decanting of domestic gas into car tanks supposed to work with autogas. As the State subsidises domestic gas, the latter is cheaper than autogas and represents major savings for consumers but the State loses an annual Rs 13 m in earnings.

■ E-10

The pilot-project of the mixture 90-10 of petrol and ethanol has come to an end. Total and Alcodis ? the companies involved in the project ? are now waiting for the ministry?s decision to extend the tests on all the cars present on the roads. Maurizio Libutti, the general manager of Total Mauritius, declared in a recent interview to ?l?express?: ?The first phase of tests for the development of E-10 in Mauritius, done on 25 cars, was conclusive.?

The use of E10 does not require any change in the car engine and is expected to reduce the country?s dependence on petrol and consequently on the country?s oil bill. However, the general manager of Total also warned. ?We should not create false hopes. Ethanol in Mauritius should not be seen as a miracle solution to reduce the price of petrol ? at least not in a near future. Without a clear policy of subsidies, ethanol remains expensive.? But the positive impact of ethanol use for consumers might be felt in the long run.

■ Spurs

Launched more than ten years ago, Spurs is said to allow savings of up to 15% in fuel consumption. It is an additive for fuel (petrol, diesel and heavy oil) that can be used for any type of engine. Its mixture with fuel refines it and makes driving softer and economic. In fact, when it was launched in 1995, Spurs was used in the industry for heavy oil. It is only last year that the process was extended to petrol and diesel. ?Taxis and buses have been using Spurs for one year and they are the ones who told us that it led to minimum savings of 10%,? says André Tang, the director of Slotworks, the company marketing the product. He points out that Spurs contains ?no metallic element and is perfectly safe for the engine?.

■ Cooking oil

Throwing away oil used for cooking after frying chips or anything else may be part of your habits! It is not the case of Michael Chan. He is using this oil to make his pick-up work. Although his initiative is at a handicraft level, Michael Chan has convinced Hilton Resorts & Spa to try his method and the hotel is using it for two of its 2-WDs. ?I would like to extend this project but it depends on the availability of oil.? This system does not require any major change within the engine, it only requires a little installation? and could lead to quite important savings!