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Bio ethanol conversion from petrol

richardg

Admonishtrator
Has anyone done this to their car? The fuel is only 80c cents per litre in France and is available in my town.... so I'm keen to know more. I did 5 conversions to LPG over the years so am keen on this kind of thing.
 
Be careful. There is a concern on the long-term effects on the (primarily) rubber components in the fuel system from the increased bio-ethanol content with change from E5 to E10 petrol in the UK. I suspect to run on E85 requires a lot of components being swapped out.

As you're Europe-based, I'd look for a "Flexifuel" Volvo (eg V70 2.5FT) from 2010 or thenabouts.
 
Be careful. There is a concern on the long-term effects on the (primarily) rubber components in the fuel system from the increased bio-ethanol content with change from E5 to E10 petrol in the UK. I suspect to run on E85 requires a lot of components being swapped out.

As you're Europe-based, I'd look for a "Flexifuel" Volvo (eg V70 2.5FT) from 2010 or thenabouts.
I was thinking of just converting my car....but can find nowhere that does it.
 
E85 (~83% ethanol) gives about 27% less energy than petrol so you will lose performance and economy. Worth factoring in. I know when I was working in France 10 years ago I tried the 10% ethanol (iirc?) that was then on offer cheaper than standard 5% (?). The overall fuel consumption went up by 10% for identical trips and driving style, making the 10% fuel price saving worthless, at least in my car.
 
E85 (~83% ethanol) gives about 27% less energy than petrol so you will lose performance and economy. Worth factoring in. I know when I was working in France 10 years ago I tried the 10% ethanol (iirc?) that was then on offer cheaper than standard 5% (?). The overall fuel consumption went up by 10% for identical trips and driving style, making the 10% fuel price saving worthless, at least in my car.
I’ve had the Passat for 10k miles now, from new.
With E10 petrol I see a tank give an indicated average of 42mpg with mixed driving. With E5 super unleaded but with 0% ethanol, I see about 46mpg. Weirdly, when I last filled, unleaded was 155.9 per litre, super unleaded 158.9. A real no brainer to me.

We’re off up north tomorrow, let’s see how the economy is on longer journeys.

One thing I will say is that 46mpg in a petrol is so much more pleasant than whatever in a diesel.

OP, what are you getting to the gallon at the moment, and which model/engine is it?
 


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