So, why the tax break? The Ford FFV is a Bi-Fuel car that produces up to 70% less CO2 than a conventional petrol engine car. It can run on bioethanol, regular unleaded petrol or a combination of both.
Ford is certainly doing its bit to be greener and clearly wants some of the kudos ‘Hybrid’ cars like the Toyota Prius and Lexus RX400h enjoy. Both have benefited from reduced VRT; in the case of the Lexus it’s to the tune of over €11,000!
Tax breaks aside hybrid cars are friendly to the environment and full of clever technology. ‘Hybrid’ petrol/electric power now comes without compromise on performance or comfort. In fact the big Lexus SUV is marketed as the sportiest RX you can buy and they’re not wrong. I’m not sure whether bioethanol will catch on so readily.
For a start it is only at a pilot stage with just one service station in Dublin’s Sandymount supplying the cheap fuel, but at least the car runs on normal unleaded so you will never be stuck.
Hybrid power is now seen as cool because it works so why has Ford bothered with a fuel that simply isn’t widely available? The Focus FFV is currently the only bioethanol car on sale in Europe.
With over 15,000 units sold to date in Europe Ford Ireland hopes we’ll follow Sweden’s example where 80% of all Focus models sold are flexi fuel. But Sweden has over 220 service stations selling the tax exempt fuel (with over 600 stations expected in 2006) compared to our ‘1’ Maxol station, so we may be playing catch-up for a while. Some Swedish cities even offer free parking to low emission vehicles; if that were offered here there would be a terrific uptake.
Commenting on the Budget, Eddie Murphy, the boss at Ford Ireland, says the Government has seized a real opportunity to promote bioethanol in this country – to the benefit of both the environment and the agricultural community.
At present the fuel is sourced in Ireland from the Carbery group in Ford’s home city of Cork. Made from ‘whey’ it’s a milk derivative and could be a viable and renewable product for Irish farmers. Forget Saudi Arabia and its oil, we have the resources here under our noses to produce fuel. Who knows, in time we could have our very own ‘Milk-Sheiks’ (sorry I couldn’t resist!).
Europe is hot on biofuels and wants biofuel consumption to rise from its present 2% up to 5.75% by 2010, with a 2020 target of 20%. I ran the FFV using bioethanol and then petrol and noticed little difference in performance. With the 50% VRT tax break and an average of 25 cent saving per litre at the pumps, the 2005 Semperit Irish Car Of The Year should prove very tempting in FFV form, not only to fleet buyers but to those who want to do their bit to help the environment.
Michael Sheridan
