Fuel for thought
In South America, cars run on ethanol for years without incident. But apart from adding a small amount of this substance to our unleaded gasoline, it has not yet taken root here.
And even this small amount has not been without controversy, with claims that it can damage engines.
That may change, however, with the advent of Saab BioPower vehicles designed specifically to run on ethanol, led by the Saab 9-5 BioPower.
We are not talking about 10%, but E85 or 85% pure ethanol, which is combined with 15% unleaded gasoline.
While the E85 requires some technical changes to run, Saab says it doesn't require any special technology. BioPower vehicles will run successfully on both gasoline and ethanol, but some modifications will be required before you start filling the tank with ethanol due to its corrosive nature.
These include the addition of stronger valves and valve seats, and the use of ethanol-compatible materials in the fuel system, including the tank, pump, lines, and connectors. In return, you get a cleaner fuel with better performance thanks to a higher octane rating. The trade-off is that you burn more.
Ethanol is an alcohol obtained by distillation from grain, cellulose or sugar cane. It has been made from sugar cane in Brazil for many years, and also from corn in the US Midwest.
In Sweden, it is produced from wood pulp and forest waste, and feasibility studies are being carried out to see if it can be produced from lignocellulose.
As a fuel, the most important difference between gasoline and ethanol is that ethanol does not increase overall carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.
This is because CO2 is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis by crops grown to produce ethanol.
The main thing, of course, is that ethanol is renewable, but oil is not. Saab currently offers BioPower versions of its 2.0- and 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engines.
Our test car was a 2.0-litre station wagon with "Saab BioPower" written on the side. Normally this engine delivers 110kW and 240Nm of torque, but with the higher octane E85 104RON, that figure rises to 132kW and 280Nm.
The wagon, of course, has a lot of zip, but at the same time, it seemed to quickly chew on a full tank of E85.
We had barely gone 170 km when the 68-liter (not the standard 75-liter) tank became half empty, and at 319 km the low fuel light came on.
At 347 km, the on-board computer demanded to refuel the car. If you are planning long distance trips this can be a problem as there are only half a dozen gas stations in New South Wales offering E85. When we topped up the tank, the on-board computer showed fuel consumption of 13.9 liters per 100 km.
However, the tank only held 58.4 liters of E85, which, by our calculations, was 16.8 liters per 100 km - about the same as the old gray V8.
There are no official fuel consumption figures for the 9-5 BioPower, but for comparison, the same car with a 2.0-liter petrol engine produces a claimed 10.6 l/100 km.
Of course, this has to be weighed against the cost of E85 (85.9 cents per liter when we filled up) compared to unleaded petrol, which sold with the same servo for 116.9 cents - 26.5% less. However, since we were burning 58% more fuel, this was actually 31.5% behind the top eight.
Saab, meanwhile, claims that the fuel consumption of the BioPower is about the same as that of a petrol model at a constant cruising speed. But in mixed driving conditions, it uses about 25-30 percent more E85. Carbon emissions for a gasoline engine are 251 grams, and there are no figures for ethanol.
