WHEN it comes to petrol savings, few can beat Mr Lim Sin Leng.

In the last two years alone, he has saved about $7,000 - the equivalent of what an average car owner spends on fuel in about 18months.

The reason his van is so fuel-efficient: compressed natural gas(CNG).

The 47-year-old businessman holds the possible distinction of being the first Singaporean here to have converted his car so that it runs on CNG instead of petrol.

He did it in March 2006 when CNG was still an unfamiliar acronym to many motorists.

So while drivers here talk about getting cheap petrol in Johor, Mr Lim is happily getting his full tank refuels at Jalan Buroh for $1.18 a kg.

One kg of CNG is equivalent to around 1.1 litres of petrol.

The same amount in petrol costs between $2.15 and $2.30, depending on the grade.

Mr Lim, who saves 'at least half of what others are paying' using CNG compared to petrol, said: 'To me, CNG stands for 'cheap and good'.'

RISE IN DEMAND

But money was not his main motivation. The self-professed car buff was first spurred to convert his Mercedes-Benz Vito 113 van to run on CNG because of his interest in automobiles and engines.

Although Mr Lim spent $4,000 on the conversion, which included the cost of flying in an engineer from Beijing, he said that it has been worthit.

By the end of last year, he recovered the cost of installing the CNG kit in his van.

With the savings from using CNG, it is no wonder many others are following in his footsteps.

Figures from the National Environment Agency and the Land Transport Authority showed that as of April, there are 540 CNG cars in Singapore. There were only 250 last December.

Scantruck Engineering, which helped to install the CNG kit in MrLim's van, has seen a 'definite' increase in demand for CNG conversion. Today, it converts 180 cars a month to run on CNG compared to 60 cars a month six months ago.

Citing rising fuel prices and the opening up of more CNG refuelling stations as two factors contributing to the increasing demand, Scantruck Engineering deputy managing director Francis Leong, 64, said: 'Due to the sudden surge in demand over the last six months, we even had to turn four to five customers away each day because we lacked the manpower and stocks.'

Another company, CMelchers, which also does installation of CNG kits for cars, currently has a waiting list of up to six months.

Mr Shannon Sim, the business development executive for CNG conversion in CMelchers, has been receiving 20 to 30 enquiries a day about CNG conversion, out of which at least 30 per cent commit to installing a kit.

Mr Sim expects the company's volume to hit 300 cars a month once their newest workshop opens at Kim Chuan late this month.

Currently, the two workshops affliated to C Melchers at Neythal Road and Sin Ming install CNG kits on 200 cars a month.

GAINING MOMENTUM

Mr Kittichai Jarusrojpoka, managing director of General Motors Overseas Distribution Corp Singapore, said the first two shipments of the Chevrolet Optra Magnum CNG have been sold out since the launch of the car on 28Mar this year. It's not known how many units there are in each shipment.

General Motors is one of the authorised dealers for the 1.6-litre Chevrolet Optra Magnum CNG, which is fitted with the CNG kit in its Thai factory.

Mr Kittichai said: 'According to feedback that we have received from the showroom, retail interest in the Optra Magnum CNG is steadily gaining momentum in proportion to the rising fuel prices.'

Parallel importers have also seen a rise in demand for cars which run on CNG. Mr Kenneth Tan, regional director of Pinnacle International, saw 'an exponential increase' in the number of drivers turning to CNG as an alternative fuel.

Pinnacle sold about 200 CNG cars during a road show they held in January this year.

VOIDS WARRANTY

ComfortDelGro Engineering, the engineering subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Group, is also looking into offering CNG conversion services to private cars.

Spokesman Tammy Tan said: 'Details are still being worked out but we expect to launch the new service within the next two to three months. We will test out the market with services being offered at just one of our locations for the initial period.

'Depending on demand, we may extend it to our other outlets.'

There are, however, some drivers who are reluctant to convert their cars to run on CNG because doing so would void their warranty.

Member of Parliament Charles Chong, who heads the Government Parliamentary Committee on National Development and Environment, said: 'If car insurance warranties are voided because vehicle owners modify their vehicles to take CNG, surely we are not incapable of fixing that without too much of a delay.

'There are safe ways of installing the CNG kit in cars, and LTA should facilitate the conversion. We should not be paralysed by this.

'Hopefully, we can move faster to provide alternatives, and save the environment while saving money.'