ECO FUEL CLASSIC RISK
‘Green petrol’ proposals are once again putting classic fuel systems at risk. Government ministers want to roll out bio-fuels with a higher concentration of ethanol to meet upcoming emissions targets in 2020 – targets that call for 10 per cent of the UK’s transport energy to come from renewable sources.
The requirements come from the EU Renewable Energy Directive, which the UK signed up to in 2009. While most – but not all – post-2002 cars will run on the new pump fuel, classic vehicles are prey to corrosion, and degradation of rubber components if run on E10 (so called because of its ten per cent ethanol content). Some historic vehicles will need adjustment to their timing, too, as E10 is less energy dense than the E5 currently sold. If older cars will feel the burn, so will the forecourts. Writing to Andrew Jones MP, parliamentary under Secretary of State for Transport, the Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) has warned a switch to E10 will increase petrol prices and possibly force smaller stations out of business; they would have to choose which grade of fuel to supply.
Brian Madderson, PRA chairman, said: “The majority of filling stations in the UK are unable to stock three grades of petrol due to limited tanks/pipes/ dispensers. This would cause immense financial disadvantages to the smaller, often rural filling stations that generally have facilities limited to a single grade of petrol, and thus would lose out on serving all sectors in the market. These vulnerable sites would be forced to close down as a result.” “The proposed new standard E10 fuel is said to have a lower energy content than the current E5 fuel and will be less efficient by reducing miles per gallon,” Madderson continued. “To reflect this, the PRA believes that the wholesale price of fuel should be set at a proportionately lower level by reducing duty. This is a step that needs to be calculated and agreed between the government and the industry.” Were E10 to be adopted, there are workarounds. E10 would become the norm for regular unleaded; pricier ‘super’ grades would most likely remain at the existing E5 standard if arrangements in Scandinavia are anything to go by. Motor Riksförbundet (MHRF), the Swedish equivalent of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, pointed to quadrupling sales of 98 octane (super unleaded) fuel in Finland when E10 regular unleaded was introduced there in 2011.