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Though old-hat in Latin America’s largest country, biomass fuels are a novelty in Europe. As PETER DE NAYER reports, incentives in Sweden are encouraging take-up, but the picture is less clear-cut in Britain…
If you live in Brazil – where sugar cane-derived bio-ethanol has been fuelling cars for years – this story will hold few surprises. However, production of this alcohol-based, biomass-derived alternative to crude oil has not been a viable financial proposition in Western Europe – until the recent escalation of crude prices.
Sweden has been ahead of the game, focusing on considerations such as the environmentally friendly effects of producing a fuel that is sourced from vegetation and ‘breathes in’ more than half of the carbon dioxide emitted by the vehicles consuming it.
With sweeteners – such as lower pump price due to tax relief, exemption from congestion charges and free parking – Swedish buyers are switching to biofuel-ready models in increasing numbers.
Ford predicts that, within two years, they will represent 25 per cent of all new car purchases in Sweden. Ford is marketing its Focus FFV – Flexible Fuel Vehicle, Volvo is in the frame, and Saab’s BioPower Flex-Fuel 2.0 litre turbo offerings are selling in a big way.
In the West of England, Somerset County Council and partner Wessex Grain have taken an initiative in this predominantly rural area.
Wessex Grain has set up a subsidiary, Green Spirit Fuels, which will take locally-grown grain – including some from land currently set aside under the EU’s agricultural regime – and process it to produce bio-ethanol while converting the residual biomass into cattle feed.
This project should be up and running by the end of 2007. Meanwhile, bio-ethanol has to be imported. It currently costs about 15p/litre more on the spot-market than gasoline, but the UK pump price is defrayed by excise duty relief of 20p/litre.
Of course, good intentions will come to nothing if the distribution infrastructure cannot be speedily developed to get E85 to the forecourt pump at a competitive price. The Morrisons supermarket group has already joined the project with five refuelling points in the area, and has a further five in the East of England, where it is supporting another bio-ethanol development project.
Ford has stepped in as an active partner, and is currently selling its 1.8-litre Focus FFV to Somerset Police, Wessex Water Company and private buyers for just £450 more than the price of an ordinary Focus 1.6 – the FFV 1.8 version, with its extra 10PS, is unique to the biofuel version. And Saab now offers its 9-5 2.0t BioPower range in the UK for £600 more than the petrol-only versions.
Unlike the Focus, which Ford has tuned to accelerate on either petrol or E85 in similar fashion, the Saab is programmed to capitalize on the biofuel’s higher octane rating – 104 RON compared with 95 or 98 for unleaded petrol. The result is a 20 per cent gain in power and 16 per cent more torque.
Both bio-capable cars will use more fuel by volume, however, and Ford predicts a consumption increase of 25 per cent overall. Presumably, Ford decided to programme its power unit to mitigate the effects of the lower calorific value of the biofuel, whereas Saab has opted for more driver appeal, irrespective of the consumption penalty.
E85’s indisputable advantages in environmental terms make a compelling case in its favour. However, the pump price will have to be sufficiently attractive to encourage widespread take-up. At present in the UK, one would have to be a fanatical Green Activist – and blissfully unaware of the higher consumption – to be prepared to pay extra up-front for the car and then to pay only 3p/litre less for E85 than ordinary unleaded petrol. If government means what it says then it must remove this hurdle by taking less tax on E85.
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