It is now four years since I started driving a car powered by bio-ethanol.  Those four years ended yesterday when I returned the car to the dealer with only a few days left to run on the lease.

The car that I have replaced it with no longer runs on bio-ethanol (E85), although it does use the new E10 fuel.

So how have those four years been and why did I switch back?

Well, whilst on the one hand it was nice to try something new (more…)

2011 saw the introduction of a new type of petrol in Germany: E10.

What sounds like a London post code is actually a mixture of normal petrol and bio-ethanol.  10% bio-ethanol to be precise, hence the name.

The reason for this is an EU directive (2009/30/EG) which intends to

• reduce carbon-dioxide emissions
• reduce dependency on the oil-producing countries

A similar step was taken a few years ago, when E5 was introduced – with 5% bio-ethanol. (more…)

Today I filled up with bio-ethanol for the first time. Germany’s first bio-ethanol petrol station is located in Bad Homburg and to operate the pump I have a coded key, which allows me to go there at any time of the day, regardless of the opening hours.

For my first visit, however, I decided to go there whilst it was open, just to make sure that there were no problems.

Actually there was a problem – a car had parked on the space in front of the bio-ethanol pump, and I had to wait about 15 minutes until it was moved.

After that I parked there myself, turned the key and filled up the car. As simple as that! Now I have a full tank and can work out for myself how much the car is using. The on-board computer says that I used 13.3litres/100km since I started driving the car, but I don’t know how many litres were in the tank when I got it so I can’t check that figure.

The first bio-ethanol petrol station in Germany,
located in Bad Homburg