Gasoline, uh, what is it good for?
My family drives a Volkswagen Jetta. It’s got a really sweet deisel engine that we fuel with biodiesel bought at a public pump. Sit down, this next comment may shock you:
It is cheaper for me to fuel my car with 100% vegetable-oil-based biodiesel than it is to buy gas or diesel.
Think about it. There is now an economic incentive for me to switch from petroleum–altruism doesn’t come into play. I’m not spending more money to put Exxon out of business, I’m spending less. This is a big deal. If organic strawberries were cheaper than conventional ones grown in Mexico with tons of pesticides, what would everyone buy?
Public pumps are exploding in number. If you’re in the market for a new car, don’t forget to check out the lovely vehicles from Volkswagen and make the switch to biodiesel. Just by doing that you can help:
- stop global warming
- build a domestic fuel economy
- remove “oil” from the list of reasons why we go to war
I love driving my Jetta, and I really love driving right past gas stations on my way to the biodiesel pump…
June 14th, 2006 at 6:25 am
In the UK it is getting cheaper too. It isn’t as cheap as you might think because you still have to pay duty to the government. If you get used fat from a KFC and purify it yourself, which isn’t too hard apparently, you still have to fill in forms to declare how much you’ve used.
At around $6 a gallon you can see why it’s worth the effort over here.
June 14th, 2006 at 7:02 am
Love that you are using bio-diesel. However VW has a poor quality control reputation and the experiences, both mechanical and with the company, that I have had with my Passat mean I will NEVER buy another VW car. So it would be nice to know what other companies are making bio-diesel capable vehicles. And what do you do when bio-d is not available when you need to fill up.
Love this blog
Sandra
June 14th, 2006 at 7:31 am
I haven’t had any problems with my Jetta in the first year and a half. Of course, that could change. In the US, VW is the only company that is selling diesel cars. You can get all sorts of diesel heavy duty trucks, but not cars. Here’s the history on that: in the ’70’s the gas crisis led GM/Chrysler/Ford to build a bunch of diesel cars. They were horrendous. And that turned a whole generation of call buyers and builders off of diesel. In Europe, just abot every model of vehicle is available in diesel–even the Dodge Caravan. But you can’t get them in the states.
Regarding fueling when biodiesel isn’t available. You can just put regular diesel in the tank. You can mix diesel and biodiesel at any percentage. Nothing to worry about.