Having dutifully informed Customs & Excise of my intentions, I've just poured my very first litre of Sainsbury's vegetable oil into the tank of my VW Passat 1.9 Tdi. There were 50 litres of normal diesel in the tank at the time, so the blend is just 2% veg oil.
Taking the car for a test drive, the engine seems smoother and more willing. Also the most amazing thing is there is no noticeable diesel smell any more. Could this change be real, given that the fuel is only 2% veg oil?
Is such a weak blend likely to cause any damage to injectors, turbo, catalyst etc. I'm prepared to do an experiment like this because my car's getting on a bit and not worth much.
It's still got that occasional misfire that I've also posted about though!!
cheers, Sofa Spud
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Sofa Spud,
I can't help you on possible damage, but I would be interested to know what HMC&E had to say on the matter? I run a Passat 1.9TDi and will be following your experiment with interest.
Have you done any costings to justify spending £x on oil at Sainsburys as opposed to £x on diesel?
Cheers,
DB
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At present I don't think I'll save any money, or if I do it'll only be pence - it's just an experiment to satisfy my curiosity. My main motivation is to make dip a toe in the waters of sustainable motoring. The duty on bio road fuels is 25.9p per litre (I think). I'll only be using a blend of 2%, maybe going up to 5% if all remains OK. On 10,000 miles a year, that would only be £10-£20 duty payable on the small quantity of veg oil used!
From what I can gather from the net, if you use anything more than a small proportion of SVO (straight vegetable oil) it can lead to engine problems. To go the whole hog one would need to buy properly prepared biodiesel, which is not available around here yet, or to procees one's own veg oil to turn it into biodiesel.
I've contacted HM C&E, and now I think it's just a matter of filling in a form.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Probably being very thick here, but if the duty is 25.9 per litre, does this not mean that for every litre of veg oil you put in your tank, you owe 25.9p? Or, are you taking a figure of 2% of 25.9p as you are using a small blend, meaning you owe C&E 0.518p for every litre of veg oil used?
Sorry if I'm being slow - you wouldn't think I work in finance!
Cheers,
DB
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I have used up to 80% SVO in my Passat for 18 months and 40k with no problems. If the engine is warm it will run 100%!
SVO is not eligable for the discounted rate of duty the fuel must be fully treated bio-diesel ie with the soap removed. This is time consuming and costly due to wastes. So be wary of declaring to HMCE if you are not treating your oil....
Costco is best price £0.43 ltr and their oil comes in 20 ltr drums.
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One owes 25.9p on EACH litre, as opposed to something like 48.8p per litre paid in duty on fossil fuels.
cheers, SS
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Just read Craig 1969's post. Looks like I might have to pay the full 48.8p rate if using SVO! Still - it won't break the piggy bank!
Cheers, SS
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I've just looked at 2 biofuel websites. One says that SVO is taxed at full rate, the other says it's 25.9p.
Cheers, SS
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So, working that at a full rate means that using a litre of oil costs circa £0.92 per litre, compared to circa £0.81 per litre of derv.
Hmmm. I wonder how many people don't declare usage of SVO, and save about £0.38 a litre?
I will of course be contacting HMC&E.
DB
PS.
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www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?...5
This gives the answers.
"Biodiesel? means diesel quality liquid fuel produced from biomass or waste cooking oil:
· the ester content of which is not less than 96.5% by weight; and
· the sulphur content of which does not exceed 0.005% by weight, or is nil."
I believe biomass is svo, svo has a 75% ish ester content. I am fairly sure you have to treat svo to make biodiesel which then gets the duty at the lower rate.
Not 100% certain of my facts here but hope all info helps!!
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You can go MUCH higher than 2%, try at least 10%.
I use 90% in a BMW for over 40,000 miles now, and yeas SVO is at the full tax rate as it's not to some EN number (european biodiesel standard), Of course, because I'm helping support european farmers, not supporting rogue regimes, and helping Tony meet the bogus CO2 emmission targets, I don't mind paying 45p for the oil and 49p to the government as they spend this and 1/3rd of my wages and 17.5% of everything I buy plus lots more, very wisely and for much benefit to us all.
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Well - I've now got about a 3% blend in my tank. Spoke with C&E yesterday and they're sending me the relevant 300-page form for me to complete and return.
We'll see how it goes!
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