Biofuel, VRT etc views

watsgone

Just wondering what are the views out here on biofuel,

Is there a big take up on these fuels,
How do people find the availablity of these fuels through out Ireland.
Is the reduction in VRT going to appeal to many.
Should there be more incendives to get people intersested in this?

Seth Brundle

Biofuel/Hybrids are a good idea. I think the main reason that thhey didn't take off is that the only one really available up till now was the Toyota Prius which looks really awful and is supposed to handle like a pissed toad.
Ford have their own biofuel car as do some others but numbers aren't enough for forecourt retailers to start supplying these fuels.
At government level, there aren't enough incentives to encourage biofuel usage. There should be zero VRT on these (there should be zero VRT on all cars!!!) and zero duty initilly on the fuels. However, with a government that doesn't give a flying fupp about the environment, as it is merely an obstacle to their developer friends, nothing will improve in terms of encouraging cleaner motoring.

CrowdedHouse

kbannon wrote:

Ford have their own biofuel car as do some others but numbers aren't enough for forecourt retailers to start supplying these fuels.

When the other half was ordering her new Focus the dealer was doing a real hard sell on the FFV,she reckoned no one was buying them and a good discount could be got if that's what you wanted.
She wasn't interested because its only in LX spec,it's a 1.8 and most of her driving is a slow city commute and of course no bio fuel within 100 miles !
She got so browned off with them trying to sell her one that she bought elsewhere.

watsgone

I could be wrong but was there plans for a petrol company Maxol I think to sell biofuels at their outlets. Only a mere 13 have taken this up.
Ford new flexi fuel car is the lastest one I have haved anything about, any one own this.

bazz26

The thing with these biofuel or hybrid cars is that they are not appealing enough to draw people away from the conventional motor. I think this is down to both the manufacturers and our Government.

Take the Ford Focus biofuel, only available with a 1.8 litre engine, limited to one trim level, the poverty LX spec and the limitation of biofuel being readily available. Alot of people will just see it as too much of a compromise to switch. The Toyota Prius is just too weird for most people's taste and the price is expensive. The technology is promising but the overall package is a let down. And I think Honda are just not interested in selling the Civic hybrid in Ireland.

Its catch 22 with manufacturers imo, they are selling very little of these cars due to the limited or incentives so they are not going to expand the range further.

The Government also know that if they were to introduce a 0% VRT rate on these cars they probably would become more popular meaning VRT revenue would be down from conventional cars. So it is a no win situation for the consumer.

Biro

Honda Ireland should be shot. They're not interested in selling any Honda.
Hybrids in general are over rated I reckon, but I suppose they're good in citys where the batteries are doing most of the work. No sign of a hybrid diesel yet for some reason.
Biofuels on the other hand are the way of the future until they get hydrogen or something like that sorted! They are the perfect stop-gap.
Someone should come up with a hybrid bio-diesel car I reckon!

watsgone

Is there any reduced in VRt for those who get convertors on their cars for say rapeseed oil, etc??

Seth Brundle

The VRT reductions are only for cars built in the factory.
http://www.revenue.ie/services/bus_cust5.htm#11

Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

50% of the VRT payable or paid may be remitted or repaid in respect of certain series production (originally manufactured) hybrid electric vehicles. A hybrid electric vehicle is a vehicle that derives its power from a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine and is capable of being driven on electric propulsion alone for a material part of its normal driving cycle.

Flexible Fuel Vehicles

"50% of the VRT payable or paid may be remitted or repaid in respect of certain series production (originally manufactured) flexible fuel vehicles. A flexible fuel vehicle is a vehicle that can achieve vehicle propulsion from an engine that is capable of using a blend of ethanol and petrol where such blend contains a minimum of 85% ethanol."