• Is it really good for the environment?

• Does it really cut CO2 emissions?

• Will it cause monotonous landscapes and food shortages?

However I am sure that the question on most motorists’ minds is “will it damage my car?”

To help answer this question, the Deutsche Automobil Treuhand who, amongst other things, are one of the sources that car dealers use to estimate the value of a used car, have issued a list of makes and models to help car owners find out whether they can put E10 into their vehicles.

• Download: E10 compatibility (in German)

The list also contains telephone numbers for many manufacturers if you are still unsure and prefer to contact them.  Please be aware though, that all of the lists circulating at the moment and even information from the manufacturer only applies if the car still has all of its original parts.

If at some time you have had parts replaced – especially if they were not replaced by official spares but rather by cheaper alternatives – then putting E10 into your tank is probably going to be at your own risk.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• New in 2011: E10
• Leb’ wohl, Bio-Ethanol
• Petrol prices in 2007

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.

And yet, the E10 is more controversial than E5 was.  For a start, it was said that almost all cars could run on E5 without modification, but for E10 this is not the case, and so petrol stations have to offer the normal “Super” type of petrol as well until 2013.  After that, owners of older cars may be forced to upgrade their vehicles or buy the more expensive “Super plus”, assuming that is still compatible.

The main reasons for a car not being compatible are

• the fuel lines not being strong enough, as bio-ethanol is more corrosive than normal petrol
• the motor not being able to handle the mixture, due to the lower energy capacity that bio-ethanol has

But it appears that E10 is here to stay, so if you are planning on visiting Germany this year, you might like to find out if your car is E10-compatible first.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• E10 in Germany – is your car compatible?
• ZM – The Zusammenfassende Meldung
• Leb’ wohl, Bio-Ethanol

I remember a comedian on the German version of “Have I Got News For You?” even accused them once of not keeping their campaign promises – because the price of petrol still hadn’t reached that point yet.

Ten years later and that promise may be about to come true. A petrol station in Devon recently charged almost 2GBP (about 2,44EUR) per litre for diesel! Even in Germany the price of diesel has now caught up with that of the normal 95-octane fuel.

Most petrol stations here are displaying only two prices: one price for 98-octane fuel, and one for everything else! It has now become much more expensive to drive anywhere on normal petrol or diesel than ever before. And yet I still don’t see many petrol stations here offering alternatives. I still don’t see better public transport, except for special events.

I’ve read recently about new high-speed train lines being considered in the UK, about new driver-less underground trains in Nuremberg and about towns in Germany introducing mandatory solar panels on building.

Is my part of Germany starting to fall behind?

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Die Grünen

We tend to see the price of petrol as something that goes up and down, although more up than down, especially in the summer months.

Actually, it started the year at 1,239EUR/litre and finished off at 1,369EUR/litre – no question about that being a price increase then.

But in-between it reached 1,419EUR/litre (or even more, but we didn’t fill up when it did!) in May, returning to 1,289EUR/litre in August. So even if there was an overall increase, it did go back and forth during the year.

How we long for the Summer of 2003 when we first bought the car, and paid as little as 1,034EUR/litre!

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Leb’ wohl, Bio-Ethanol
• E10 in Germany – is your car compatible?
• Filling up with bio-ethanol for the first time