Australia could be left far behind in a bio-fuel revolution.

act2617 · 22-04-2006, 05:52 PM

http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0...-21822,00.html

vztrt · 22-04-2006, 06:15 PM

Ford has made engines that run on E85 and reg petrol. In Europe you can get a E85 focus. Hopefully Ford aus can get the I6 to run both reg petrol and E85.
The only thing is to get the petrol companies to start making the fuel, United fuel is making E10 95 and 98 ron petrol so you'd think they would be the first company to release E85 in the country if there was a market.
If a car manufacturer got a jump on releasing a E85 engine they would do very well in the market while the competitors caught up.

rodderz · 22-04-2006, 06:42 PM

The Aussie companies would have to be already seriously thinking about alternative fuels with the way prices are at the moment, and will only get worse with oil supplies getting lower. There was an article of Dubai, which is the world's fastest growing city, that they are so rapidly building up their city as they know the UAE's oil supplies will be drying up by 2011 and will need tourism as an alternative source of income.

AUIII XR8 MAN · 22-04-2006, 06:43 PM

Lets hope that both car manufacturer & petrol companies can get these types of cars & fuels out. The goverment sould be pushing for both to deliver sothing that will help many of Australian in more ways than just at the bowser.

Rob · 22-04-2006, 09:41 PM

Improved power and torque... I'd take that! Sure, 25% less economy, but hell, its renewable, and in abundance! Show me how to convert the Falc to E100 and gimme some of that ethanol, baby!

Falcon Freak · 22-04-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vztrt

Ford has made engines that run on E85 and reg petrol. In Europe you can get a E85 focus. Hopefully Ford aus can get the I6 to run both reg petrol and E85.

There is no need to hope as it can be done. All that is required is time and money to validate and introduce fuel systems which are resistant to the corrosive properties of ethanol based fuels.

FF

chevypower · 22-04-2006, 10:09 PM

I have read that bio-diesel actually gets better mileage than petro-diesel. That and it's 40cpl without excise or other taxes. No black smoke either apparently.

tbearz · 22-04-2006, 11:12 PM

the thing is holden would be ahead with the commodore in this case as they have been exporting E85 ethanol commies to brazil for a while now..... that is if we ever see the stuff at the bowser, which i doubt due to the petrol companies need to make stupendous amounts of money from you and I.

Falcon Freak · 22-04-2006, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbearz

the thing is holden would be ahead with the commodore in this case as they have been exporting E85 ethanol commies to brazil for a while now..... that is if we ever see the stuff at the bowser, which i doubt due to the petrol companies need to make stupendous amounts of money from you and I.

Not correct. The Commodores which were exported to Brazil were fitted with the old 3.8 liter engine. These engines were fitted with unique fuel rails, fuel injectors etc. The 3.6 liter Alloytech engine (which has nothing in common with the old 3.8) does not have an ethanol resistant variant. Hence why no VZ based Commodores have been exported to Brazil.

FF

rodderz · 23-04-2006, 01:24 AM

What ever happened to the guy who developed the diesels that could run on the by-product of fish and chip oil? Was cheaper to make and run than normail distallate, only thing it apparently smelled like a truck full of flake, potato cake and 5 bucks worth of chips was flying down the road

Outbackjack · 23-04-2006, 02:01 AM

There was a bunch of hippies that drove out to where I live in a van powered by fish and chip oil.... fair enough, but how many fish and chip shops are there between Brissy and Alice...... They must go for miles on a tank of oil.....

LeMans · 23-04-2006, 02:52 AM

It will be very interesting to see where we go in the next decade or so. It seems though that bio fuels will be just one possible alternative fuel. The current thinking though is that there is not enough arable land to both feed the world and fuel it, so most likely we will see a selection of different fuels until we find the final solution.

Of course if all else fails, we could all be driving very light bio-fueled micro cars that are extremely fuel efficient. Personally, I don't mind the idea of a single seater mid-engined carbon-fibre bio-fueled sports car… possibly with a turbo 1000cc quad-cam VVT 16000rpm screamer V8

AWD Chaser · 23-04-2006, 06:43 AM

HAHA. You need to get the Hyabusa SMART Mercedes car... lol.

BP has E10 at the pump, but it's no cheaper the normal ULP. I though ethonol blends were cheaper???? So I just put ULP in my car....