What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - Theophilus

An all-party political group is recommending that bioethanol (E10) fuel should be introduced to replace the current lower bioethanol (E5) at present allowed.

The motivation appears to be two-fold: to safeguard jobs in the bioethanol sector, and to reduce carbon emissions

It is reported that the E10 gives a slightly poorer fuel economy (perhaps 1%) - and presumably a slight reduction in power output. This would seem to run completely counter to HJ's frequent exhortations to use V-Power or other premium fuels - I wonder whether he will comment in his column?

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - oldroverboy.

Using E10 can have an unwanted effect on fuel systems and injectors. I had my 1st major problem with the Venga 1.4 petrol after filling up with E10 twice in europe.

So (as an aside) if you are going to europe, check if your car can use it..

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - focussed

Beware if you are motoring in europe as E85 is on sale throughout europe, it's 85% ethanol and temptingly cheap for the unwary. In our local town in france it's only €0.59 per litre but only flex-fuel converted vehicles can use it.

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - Ethan Edwards

Ethanol it's not the engine that gets damaged. Its the fuel system plastics and rubber seals. My Vitara and Swift are fine with E10 but no more than that.

That said I believe the land and crops used for fuel could mean less food production. Which isn't going to do much for world hunger is it. So which bunch of virtue signallers should we tolerate?

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - expat

They have ethanol in the fuel in the US and you can see many people complaining about it online. It takes up water, it leaves a sticky varnish in your fuel system, it goes off if you leave it unused for a month or so. It isn't just a problem for your car. It stuffs up your lawn mower and other petrol engines you use it in.

The theory is that it is environmentally friendly. Actually it is just a way for farmers to make more money. It would be much cheaper to just give the farmers the money and not wreck people's engines.

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - focussed

It's interesting that Brazil has been fuelling light road vehicles with ethanol mix for 40 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

I don't use any petrol containing ethanol as our regular daily drivers are diesel so everything else - motorcycles, mowers. chainsaws etc are not used regularly enough to avoid the water absorption problem with the E10 fuel so I stick with regular SP 95.

Edited by focussed on 18/07/2019 at 11:26

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - RT

It's interesting that Brazil has been fuelling light road vehicles with ethanol mix for 40 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

I don't use any petrol containing ethanol as our regular daily drivers are diesel so everything else - motorcycles, mowers. chainsaws etc are not used regularly enough to avoid the water absorption problem with the E10 fuel so I stick with regular SP 95.

One of the world's worst environmental disasters - the Brazilian chop down thousands of square miles of virgin rain forest to grow cash crops to make ethanol to burn in cars - it's a major cause of man-made CO2 pollution globally.

Any - 'No brainer' fuel change - focussed

It's interesting that Brazil has been fuelling light road vehicles with ethanol mix for 40 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

I don't use any petrol containing ethanol as our regular daily drivers are diesel so everything else - motorcycles, mowers. chainsaws etc are not used regularly enough to avoid the water absorption problem with the E10 fuel so I stick with regular SP 95.

One of the world's worst environmental disasters - the Brazilian chop down thousands of square miles of virgin rain forest to grow cash crops to make ethanol to burn in cars - it's a major cause of man-made CO2 pollution globally.

Err no actually - it's not a major cause of CO2 pollution, it's a carbon neutral operation.

A report commissioned by the United Nations, based on a detailed review of published research up to mid-2009 as well as the input of independent experts worldwide, found that ethanol from sugar cane as produced in Brazil "in some circumstances does better than just "zero emission." If grown and processed correctly, it has negative emission, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere, rather than adding it."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil#Environmental_effects

Edited by focussed on 19/07/2019 at 00:34