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Wednesday, 14 March 2007 |
The Var now has the first service station in the region to offer
ethanol-based motor fuel.
It is not commonly known that all motor fuel in France has
had a 5% ethanol content for some time. Ethanol is a non-oilbased
fuel derived from plants. What is different about this new
fuel is that it is 85% ethanol and 15% lead-free 95-octane
gasoline, hence its name Superethanol 85. In this case, the ethanol
comes from beetroot.
Currently it is available in the region only
from the Leclerc station at the east-bound Aire de l’Estérel, close
to the Var/Alpes-Maritimes border on the A8 autoroute.
Inevitably the new fuel has a chicken-and-egg aspect:
retailers are reluctant to install new equipment without being
sure of demand, while motor manufacturers see only a limited
market for vehicles equipped to use both ethanol and
conventional gasoline, until fuel supplies are easily available.
By the end of this year, Leclerc plans to have Superethanol
85 at the pumps on 72 sites, with a further 250 scheduled by
Total. With other retailers coming on stream progressively, it is
hoped to have 500 of the national total of 1,350 outlets equipped
during 2007. Currently, only three cars can use this fuel: a Ford,
a Saab and a Volvo, though both Renault and Peugeot plan to
launch hybrid versions of existing models this year.
The new fuel is less expensive: 80c per litre against
€1.23 for lead-free 95 at the Esterel pumps, and will probably
be even cheaper when available outside the autoroute network.
One reason for this is that the government only taxes the
gasoline content.
The down side is that fuel consumption is 20% to 30%
higher. Though this does not eliminate the saving, it does mean
more frequent stops for refuelling.
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