Future Problems.

[optional]

Hi all MR2 owners,
have you all read the article in this months NZ Classic Car, page 92, regarding Ethanol?
As I read this article most of us will be affected if our current "Anti-Car" government follows what has been predicted overseas. They have already shown they have absolutely no regard for those of us who cannot afford a new vehicle that anyone who calls himself ( or herself ) a driver would describe as half decent to drive. Or practical for that matter! That's if you are even prepared to accept the total write-off of your pride and joy.
It is crystal clear that we have to keep a close eye on the proposals spewing forth from our so-called representatives and be prepared to join the (hopefully) huge and noisy throng that will come together to protest, in the hope that we can make them see some glimmering of common sense.
Keith Heginbotham

[ClanFever]

Hey Keith

Are you able to write what was written in the article, or find somewhere online where it's detailed? I'm guessing it's talking about ensuring all petrol at the pumps will be Ethanol or otherwise plant/eco/synthetic based at some point. This is not a direction we should huff at. Just like when Lead was taken out of petrol, there will be a solution to ensure old cars can keep running. It might be we need to rejig the entire fuel system + ECU mapping, or just add an additive each time

As detailed in a post I put up a few months back viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15982

I believe classic car owners would still be in shape to keep their cars indefinitely. I would argue the current government is not "anti-car" but rather is looking for all solutions to ensure we can go carbon neutral. You can see the damage climate change is doing with the floods we've experienced this week. I still don't know why world powers haven't looked to Nuclear Power to get rid of gas/oil/coal immediately while we look at making solar/wind/water/thermal far more sustainable than it is now (a serious wtf here for Germany, shut down their Nuclear Power Plants to then rely more solely on it's coal power plants https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/featur ... -plants-2/)

The other thing here is, what is the solution we can provide as classic car owners? Should we look to transition our commuters to EV or smaller vehicles to allow ourselves to keep our pride and joys? What would we do differently if we were in power? Now is not the time to double down on climate change pseudo science or delaying change and hoping we don't see any of the problems we face, action is needed in some form. As a country we won't make a dent but we all have to do our part. I think Public Transport for one is shockingly bad in some areas and needs a serious re-investment so people are inclined to use it. Dairy and Meat consumption is also extremely high, Methane producing Cows and other farming methods can do a lot of damage, they also take away land that could be used for more sustainable things such as high density houses or forests.

I don't believe the Government is going to be trying to take our cars away from us anytime soon, and in fact will give us die-hards solutions so we can keep them. We have a massive following in terms of car ownership in NZ and require it more than a lot of other countries, due to what we do for work and how spread out we are. Time will tell, I honestly believe this hate of subsidising EVs with more expensive Utes is a "loud minority" such as when Trump "won" the 2020 election. The next election may prove this point, although I could be wrong.

Just my thoughts. We'll do what we can so we can keep our cars. Ultimately if there's not enough of us, it might not be enough. I don't believe we need to take action yet on that front though, and in fact I think as car lovers we should agree with some change, otherwise if we get too defensive now, we won't be listened to later.

Cheers
- Olaf

[Benckj]

SW20 & Spyders will run on E10 just fine. The AW11's may need a few mods such as fuel pump and hoses but nothing major to use E10. Could even step up to larger concentrations without much difficulty. Our cars should last another few decades with proper maintenance.

[MIKEP]

I am Part owner and Director of a company , Proven fuel Management or PFM Blue. You can see more about us at www.pfmblue.com. We manufacture Fuel Conditioning units primarily for diesel fuel . These units use magnetic generators coupled with UV light to treat fuel. Over the past 2 years our research has moved to petrol and Biofuel blends to combat the very problem that we are talking about here

Experts warn that the introduction of E10 is the most significant threat to old cars since the switch from leaded to unleaded fuel. Four-star fuel was banned in Britain from 2000, on environmental grounds. It’s for similar concerns over air pollution and CO2 emissions that E10 will be dispensed by the nation’s petrol pumps.

We have units fitted to old or elderly vehicles that are running E10 and so far the results have been favourable . We have had an increase in Lubricity of the fuel and a huge increase in economy (though this isnt what we were aiming at) with a corresponding lowering of emissions.Basically our units disrupt the Hydrocarbon chain at a molecular level thus altering the fuels DNA.
We are effectivly
Our research team are also working for an International Government on a very similar issue and we currently have some recirc units processing large volumes of the ethanol based fuel to run it in older conventional vehicles

Whilst we cant offer a solution today Our research and that of other companies would indicate there will be an "Off the shelf" solution by the time it hits our shores. So smile and dont throw out the baby with the bathwater yet.

Kind Regards
Mike Playle
Technical Director
www.pfmblue.com

[Alsw20]

I think the trend for using ethanol in fuel may wane over time, not increase. The vast tracts of land required to grow corn for ethanol production rather than food will in increasingly come under the spot light.

[Benckj]

Some of the best conversion crops come from algea not corn. There is plenty of research in this area for managing high yield crops which do not effect food production.

[MIKEP]

Ethanol is an alcohol made from sugar or starches and products containing sugars or starches, through a process of fermentation and distilling.
In New Zealand, ethanol is a by-product of the dairy industry - it is a by-product of milk processing that is produced by fermenting lactose with a special yeast that converts this sugar into alcohol. The ethanol is then distilled off and further processed to remove water Ethanol can also come from overseas agricultural sources where it is produced from crops including grain (Australia) and sugarcane (Australia and Brazil), beet (Europe) and corn (United States).
Synthetic ethanol can be derived from fossil-sourced hydrocarbons. Synthetic ethanol is produced in two countries – Saudi Arabia and South Africa. It is highly unlikely that synthetic ethanol will be blended into New Zealand petrol but Government agencies will be monitoring ethanol uptake to determine if this happens