This new Ethanol based fuel

[charlotte001]

Does anyone know anything about this new Ethanol based fuel onsale at Morrisons ? (Texaco)

Is it good for cars or only super cars ? BioEthanol E85 is what it's called does anyone know if any Volvo can run on it or can just the SAAB and Ford Focus use it ?

Charlotte

[peteS40]

Presumably would be ok if it is just a replacement for unleaded with a very high octane rating or something... never heard of it though, how much does it cost?

Is it meant for supercars because only then will you have a big enough wallet to be able to afford it?! :D

Pete

[John_C]

No you can't run a normal car on it, it has to be one which has been converted/designed to run on Ethanol.

Basically (it's fair bit more complex) this is a low emission alchohol based fuel which is generally refined from sugar beet rather than having to be drilled for.

Link here:
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/1424.asp

Some people are getting very excited about it, but the problem is that because of the very thing which makes it eco friendly (i.e. it's made from a crop which is grown so is "renewable") is also going to mean it can't replace petrol unless a lot of the surface of the planet is given over to growing the raw material.

Cheers,
J

[4 forty]

i hope morrisons clearly state on their pumps that this fuel is NOT to be used in conventional petrol cars, unsuspecting motorists will see its 2p a litre cheaper and just put it in their tank.

paul

[peteS40]

That's quite interesting, reminds me of those people who run their cars on old chip fat or something. I wonder if it will take off this idea: I remember when LPG came out, at first it was available in only a few places but pretty soon it was everywhere.

[charlotte001]

Ok but why can't you run a normal car on it if it's 15% petrol ? Is it something like running it on Alcohol ? (ethanol is a form of Alcohol i guess)

Can't find any technical blurb on it to why it can't run in a normal engine that morrisons paper is a waste of space.

Wonder if I stick it through the defunt merc will it blow it sky high :D Will report back.

Charlotte

[classicswede]

From what I know you will need different injectors as it is much colder than petrol. Your fuel lines will also need to be the correct ones. This what the I know about the drag cars that run on alcohol so I imagine it will be similar.
shame it is not a lot cheaper as for only 2p it would not be worth the cost of conversion.

[daves60rr]

"cars must go through a relatively cheap conversion that essentially involves replacing rubber seals and aluminium parts with materials that are not eroded by the bioethanol"

and something about stronger valves

u could make BioEthanol yourself, u could make it from wheat

"One hectare of wheat produces about 29,000 miles of motoring, enough to take a car around the equator and still have 4,000 miles of fuel left," adds Green Spirit Fuels"

one hect of wheat is about 6 tons worth, u could buy that for about £400 quid, and convert yourself, a little a heat and a still is all u need! lol

dave

[Alec Dawe]

Did a google search for BioEthanol, lots of hits including a gov (deefra) site, with an information sheet in pdf format, which wouldn't open at all!! (Typical).
Seems , from punting round a bit, that almost any engine can run on the low blend bioethanols, up to 20%bio/80%petrol, but Morrison's is Bio85, which is 85%bio and only 15% 'normal'petrol, for which some mods are needed.
In Sweden, the gov is set to really encourage its use, including contributions towards conversions, reduced road tax, raduced conpany car tax, free city parking, and exemption from congestion charges.
Can you see this happening here? Can you thump!

Lots of info if you go through google

[shimon340]

the conversion for volvos aluminium 4,5 and 6 cylinder engines is quite extensive.... this is why volvo hasnt launched a ethanol powered version of these engines

The flexi-fuel S40 V50 uses the Ford 4 cylinder developed to run on ethanol...

ethanol reacts with aluminium and wil therefore damage aluminium parts

cylinder liners are not a problem ( these arent aluminium - as its too weak/soft ) but the cylinder heads are a concern...

[Engineer]

Assuming you guys have been keeping up with the press concerning this new/old fuel resource, I would now guess any large land mass occupied by nobody important had better watch out as somebody might invade them for their own good and grow sugar beat or whatever in order to supply an 85% mix lol.

Failing that a 5% mix seems to be the norm when used without all the engine/fuel system mods, if you can put up with the slight decrease in mpg and increase in performance, debatable certainly. I guess the oil company’s will now just roll over and accept this then? Mexico has been running on this stuff for years and now exports to the UK. East Anglia is our hot spot for this growth, wake up everybody it’s a revolution (Mexican pun sorry) or not as the case may be.