Biofuel-based E10 might be a tempting forecourt proposition, but is it okay for your car?
Dear Drive… Where we answer reader, viewer, and listener questions. Something on your mind? Call us on the radio show or email us at contactus@drive.com.au.
We’ve been asked:
Is it safe to put biofuels in my car?
With a name like ‘biofuel’, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether filling your tank with this mysterious liquid will result in miles of trouble-free motoring or clouds of green smoke belching from the tailpipe. Spoiler alert: it’s not the latter.
Biofuels are fuels manufactured using biological matter as the primary source of energy. You might argue that this definition could also be applied to traditional fossil fuels given that they also originate from the remains of plants and animals. Fossil fuels, however, take millions of years to form and, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Biofuel, on the other hand, is manufactured through a relatively fast process and, critically, a sustainable one.
There’s currently no 100 per cent biofuel alternative on the mainstream market, but a number of manufacturers are offering products for petrol cars branded as E10 – 10 per cent bioethanol blended with regular unleaded fuel.
In case you’re wondering if your car can safely run on a biofuel blend, the answer is probably “yes” if your car was built less than 35 years ago. BP advanced fuel products and applied sciences expert technologist Malcolm Corban told Drive that virtually all vehicle manufacturers started designing engines to use ethanol-blended petrol in the 1980s.
“It depends on the vintage of the vehicle,” he said. “E10 is very popular because, as long as your car is compatible, you don’t need to make any modifications to the fuelling of the vehicle.”
To find out if your vehicle can run on E10, consult your vehicle’s user manual or head to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) website. As a general rule, though, a majority of fuel-injected cars produced after 1986 can safely use E10.
The ethanol in BP’s E10 fuel is a biofuel made in a process similar to distilling alcoholic spirits, such as raw schnapps for example. Early bioethanol production used food crops such as corn or sugarcane, but BP now uses a process to produce ‘second-generation bioethanol’ made from food waste materials that aren’t fit for consumption.
The fuel it’s used to make has a number of advantages if your car is compatible. Firstly, E10 is a more renewable energy source for vehicles compared with regular unleaded petrol or diesel.
“The ethanol is fully sustainable,” said Corban. “The CO2 from the ethanol that’s consumed … makes its way back into plants, which then gets processed and ends up as fuel again. It’s part of the carbon cycle.”
The environmental advantages of reducing carbon emissions don’t need detailing, but the use of a renewable ingredient in the production of E10 normally makes it the most affordable option at the pump too.
Completing the trio of benefits, the inclusion of ethanol increases the fuel’s octane rating (RON) to about 94 compared with regular unleaded’s 91. This can make it more suitable for use in higher-performance engines including turbocharged petrols. Once again, though, check the manufacturer’s requirements.
Compared with 98-octane premium unleaded, E10 might not necessarily be the best fuel for high-performance engines, but BP is demonstrating the potential for biofuels in the very highest performance applications.
For the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, BP unveiled its E75 Racing Fuel, which is produced using more than 80 per cent bioethanol, enabling the grid of 25 cars to produce about 480kW each while increasing range and lowering overall ‘well-to-wheel’ carbon emissions.
It’s funny to think that a fuel made from waste not even suitable for animal feed is now being fed to V8 beasts on the track.
Have a question about your next set of wheels or just need some car advice? No query is too big, small or obscure! Call into the radio show (Trent on 2GB Sydney 1:30pm Monday and 9:00pm Wednesday, 5AA South Australia 1:30pm Tuesday, and James on 3AW Melbourne 9:00pm each Thursday), or contact us by email here: contactus@drive.com.au.
The post Dear Drive… Is it safe to put biofuels in my car? appeared first on Drive.
0 Response to "Dear Drive… Is it safe to put biofuels in my car?"
Post a Comment