For the members of La Collective du bioethanol, which brings together most of the producers of this fuel, there is, unsurprisingly, no doubt. E85 bioethanol is the ideal solution for continuing to use gasoline engines while waiting for the major replacement of the entire car fleet with zero-carbon emission vehicles.
Produced largely from…
For the members of La Collective du bioethanol, which brings together most of the producers of this fuel, there is, unsurprisingly, no doubt. E85 bioethanol is the ideal solution for continuing to use gasoline engines while waiting for the major replacement of the entire car fleet with zero-carbon emission vehicles.
Produced largely from the fermentation of sugars and starch contained in beets or cereals, bioethanol E85 is displayed at the pump on average at 75 euro cents when the super unleaded 95 flies away at a little over €1.75 and diesel at 1.60. On paper, the fight pleads in favor of this biofuel which, in addition, displays twice the environmental performance in terms of CO emissions.2.
Strong growth in consumption
If it mobilizes no less than 55,000 farmers and 300,000 hectares of land, this fuel is lambasted by environmental defenders who accuse its production of being greedy in terms of the consumption of inputs or phytosanitary products. Some engine technicians also criticize it for increasing vehicle consumption by 25% on average.
Not enough, however, to curb the appeal of this fuel, the consumption of which in volume has increased by 33% in one year. Indeed, if only the original Flex E85 vehicles (only the Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover brands currently offer it) or vehicles equipped with a conversion box can run on E85 bioethanol, the players in the sector and in particular manufacturers and converter box installers are doing quite well.
“We have gone from 700 installations in 2017 to 25,000 in 2021,” explains FlexFuel Energy Development, one of the major players in this market in France. “90% of the current car fleet is eligible for conversion, we are convinced that bioethanol is a transitional alternative to the transition to electric vehicles”, assures Agnès Bernard of TotalEnergies.
“Today when electric costs €3.99 for 100 km, a 208 equipped with a conversion box can expect a cost of €4.77 per 100 km”, assures Alexis Landrieu of Biomotors, manufacturer in Vendargues (Hérault) which sends 2,000 converter boxes each month to more than 600 installers in France.
“The choice of purchasing power”
The boxes, sold installed between 800 and 1,000 euros per unit, would be amortized in two years for a rider who travels 13,000 kilometers per year. “We initially aimed for large wheels with large displacements”, underlines Jérôme Loubert of FlexFuel, “but we realize that the more the price of fuel rises, the more we equip cars with small cars for users who first do the choice of purchasing power”.
French production says it is ready to follow the upward trend in the use of E85, what about the distribution network? It also seems to follow with 2,725 service stations equipped to date in France.