I've currently got a diesel Lexus IS220D 2006 without the DPF. I'm planning on getting a second car in the near future so I can start taking chances repairing them myself and looking into alternative cheaper fuels. Audi recently approved the V6 engines for hydroteated veggie oil. Probably not making enough money on repairs. but according to the marketing around this stuff, it's a "drop-in fuel".
We can use up to 2000L a year over here in the UK without paying tax. I know there are risks, but at this stage it's risk vs financial pain at the pumps and ruin from owning an electric car.
What do you guys think?.
First things first, I wouldn't pay the tax if you can devise a way to avoid it....it's rediculous. This is just me but I go out of my way to dodge taxes in every facet of life because I don't appreciate pickpockets.
Audi probably "okayed it" because they want more repairs coming in, on older diesels like 80s mercedes you can run straight peanut oil sans issues....that is what Diesel intended his engines to run on, not petroleum products. If you can find a cheap way to do that, it's an option.
Realize with vegetable oil you have to still use diesel until the engine & fuel warm up, you also have to do a bit of chemistry on top of the entire filter/cleaning the used fryer oil. Even if it wasn't used, still have to add the chemicals.
You can do it but running the heating elements at home to process it may add on so much to your electric/gas bill that you're still paying the same.
When the time comes where you can't get used oil for free because an industry of refining it has popped up (or the gov't outlaws it) you have to either go bootlegger & steal used fryer oil or possibly lose all benefit of your investment.
So before doing that, add up ALL the start up costs along with the ongoing to see if it still makes sense.
You might also want to look into the used engine oil avenue while that's free for the taking.
If you're talking about bio-diesel it could be a good idea. At one point in the states they even sold it at some gas stations but a lot of people were cooking it up themselves. If you've got some place to do it then read up on it first. The trick is to make it cheap, no sense in doing it if you can buy diesel cheaper. Back in the day they used to sell a kit for it, you just drop in the oil and chemicals and the machine did the rest.
$12 bucks a gallon??? OUCH! At those prices I'd definitely look into cooking up my own. AS for EV's don't knock it until you've tried it, I was against them until I drove one at a GM event. I'd look into getting an Open Ampera, that's the European version of the car I have.
Thanks fro the replies. I was thinking about this stuff as a possible backup in case diesel went through the roof. I've got some quotes and companies are estimating between £2.50 and £3.50 a litre which is about $3.20 > $4.50 a litre in US. So unless I've got this wrong 1 UK litre = 1/4 of a US gallon, so that's about $12 a gallon.
Probably still cheaper than an EV though.