THOUSANDS HIT OUT AT FUEL THREAT
Owners of 6800 classics react to government bid to increase the amount of ethanol in petrol – here’s how to have your say
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) has had a massive response from classic owners worried about Department for Transport-led plans to increase the amount of ethanol in petrol.
It said that an ongoing survey had so far garnered responses from owners with 6800 historic vehicles between them, who had overwhelmingly voiced concerns about the risk of increased ethanol content damaging the fuel systems of older vehicles and – in the worst cases – causing fires.
David Whale, FBHVC chairman, said: ‘This is a clear vote by our members for the retention of 97 RON as the protection grade and this will therefore be our recommendation in our response.’
More than 2700 classic owners – who between them own more than 6800 historic vehicles – have spoken out against Government plans to increase the amount of ethanol being added to petrol.
The responses, compiled by the Federation of
British Historic Vehicle
Clubs (FBHVC) as part of a survey in response to the Department for Transportled fuel plans, reveal that classic owners overwhelmingly want a lower-grade protection fuel with reduced ethanol content to be made available long-term, with concerns being expressed about fuel line degradation and – in the worst cases – vehicle fires.
FBHVC chairman, David Whale, said: ‘This is a clear vote by our members for the retention of 97 RON as the protection grade and this will therefore be our recommendation in our response to Government.’
A ‘protection’ grade of 97-octane and above fuel, better known as ‘ high octane’, contains far less bioethanol than E10, which has been proven to be harmful to classic fuel systems, but will become the standard grade of petrol from 2020.
The FBHVC said that 70 per cent of these 6800 vehicles, are run on 97 RON petrol, the sought-after protection grade already – suggesting a heavy dependence on low ethanol fuel among members. 6100 historic vehicles in the survey are registered for road use.
It added that many respondents would struggle to fuel their vehicles were fuel with reduced ethanol content to be abolished, with 68 per cent of cars running on 97 octane fuel said not to be capable of conversion to run on E10. Forced down other means of filling up, 77 per cent of owners would use an additive if 97 was not available – or, worryingly, a significant number (11 per cent) would simply sell their cars.
The FBHVC’s survey still has two days left to run – Classic Car
Weekly strongly encourages classic fans to fill in the online survey and share their views and any experiences of ethanol-related incidents.