Running your car on veggie oil

[Tom]

Originally posted by Ash!
Tom

whats the saving compared to something like LPG and converter kit. Which is supposed to be government subsidised and a lot cheaper. ?

Well I don't own a petrol car, but I believe the conversion costs around £1500, and you can get a grant for a %age of that fee. LPG is about 40p a litre? I heard that there are many companies doing conversions, but you really have to shop around because many conversions carried out are quite dangerous.

I did think of buying a Volvo dual-fuel car at one time, but the loss of luggage space was quite large (most conversions take the space of the spare wheel, which in an estate is a real pain to find room for).

LPG is actually a lot more environmentally damaging than Biodiesel or SVO. I'm not saying that environmental concerns are the main driving force behind my plans, but I am generally quite good on things like that (I get my electricity from a renewable energy sources supplier, 10% I think is renewable), I recycle all paper and glass etc.

You have to think hard about the amount of tax we pay on fuel. It really doesn't reflect the returns in investement in the country. While its naieve to think that fuel tax/road tax should be entirely reinvested in our transport system, I do feel rather superior to other road users in that I actually need a car to do my job - its not just getting to an office and back.

Although the labour government actually stopped the fuel escalator, it didn't stop it from raising real-term taxes by about 60% since it came to power. There will be more on the way, guaranteed. I don't mind the principle of paying tax, but I think the motorist is a very easy target, and I don't think thats fair, much as the people who didn't pay their poll tax didn't think that was fair either.

Anyway, I've already emailed them for the correct forms, I don't know how they're going to enforce the declaration though. Maybe they'll send a team of detectives around every week to analyse the fuel in my car. Then again, maybe not.

 

[Ekydus]

Does getting your car fitted stop the smell?

That's usually how they catch you.

 

[Tom]

I'm running on a mix, so they won't be able to smell it.

 

[Gumbo]

The dodgy LPG installs scare the bejeesus out of me, people driving around with a large explosive device poorly fitted in the back of a hatchback.

That's a large container of pressurised explosive gases carried around in the passenger compartment.

Madness I tells ye!

The more professional installs are a bit better, and as an oe install, I suppose it has to be safe. But still...

 

[rynnor]

Hmm - if someone works out how to run their car on lard they could be onto a winner - its not a liquid substitute as defined in the hydrocarbons act - with higher gauge fuel pipes and a lot of heaters it should be a fine substitute and duty free...

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by Gumbo
Hmmm further reading seems to suggest that if you use waste oil then the rate is set at 25.82p per litre, however you have to register with c&e as a manufacturer of fuels.

Seems an awful lot of hassle for a small saving.

Did some more research:

“Biodiesel” means diesel quality road fuel produced from biomass or vegetable oils, (including recovered vegetable oils) -

(a) the ester content of which is not less than 96.5% by weight; and

(b) the sulphur content of which does not exceed 0.005% by weight.’

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/business/othertaxes/biodiesel.htm

New vegetable oil is 100% ester, so qualifies for the 26% duty.

Basically, if I went round to my local chippy, got all his waste oil for nothing (they have to pay to dispose of it), filtered it, and used it, I would be paying 26p per litre to run my car, if I ran it on pure WVO. Considering I do about 20 000 miles a year, and even considering I would mix the fuel with normal Diesel, thats still a shit load of money I could save.

 

[Durzel]

If you can get away with not paying the tax on it, good luck to you. Fuel duty is daylight robbery anyway.

I'm not going to lose any sleep at night over Tom paying or not paying tax - it's not as if hes the only person not paying it. The Govt. have been shafting us for years on fuel prices - I don't see how thats going to change for the better by a minority electing to proactively pay taxes on their oil burners.

 

[Delboy]

Nice one. Talk about stealing, and here you have a government that steals from us all.

Would we all be singing the same tune about dodging tax if say VAT was set at 40%?

The government writes its own cheques and we have people here defending it and saying it's right?

Who's to say it's right?

 

[Munkey-]

Jeus, forgot how much fuel cost in the UK. Only costs a tenner out here for 75 litres. You guys really are getting robbed.

 

[Gumbo]

Originally posted by Delboy
Nice one. Talk about stealing, and here you have a government that steals from us all.

Would we all be singing the same tune about dodging tax if say VAT was set at 40%?

The government writes its own cheques and we have people here defending it and saying it's right?

Who's to say it's right?

You never used a Doctor or travelled on a road?

I agree some money might be wasted, but governments have to tax their populace to pay for stuff, they can't just print the money themselves from nowhere...

Good Luck Tom, do get back to us and let us know how you get on and how much you can save. It's an interesting subject for someone working in the motor trade, I'll be intrigued to see how it works out.

 

[Delboy]

Gumbo, you're taking my post a lot further than even I intended.

Who knows what road tax pays for?

It's a whole bigger argument than just road tax.

Right, must head off..

 

[Tom]

Well for a start it pays for a fuckoff massive navy that we don't need.

 

[Sawtooth]

I was behind a car using veggie oil once. It stank like a chippy, but in a bad way.
Not sure how thats environmentally friendly.

 

[Tom]

Depends really, he was probably flooring it, and I know for a fact that regular diesel smells horrid, and does things like kill you, whereas the veggie oil just makes you a bit queasy.