Citroens that run on bio-ethanol ?

[charentejohn]

Looking for a car and found an ad. for a Renault 1.6 petrol which said it used Bio-ethanol, here that is 0.90 instead of 1.65 Euros.

I tried finding info for a 2001 Xsara 1.6 petrol but no info on running on Bio-ethanol. It doesn't help that I don't know what the difference is between that and petrol (apart that it comes from plants ?)
I assume it is like octane ratings and engines so they will all run on any petrol like fuel but if you don't use the right one there will be damage over time ?
If they are trying to move off petrol then the alternatives have to work in any engine, I would guess. So can this be used in a 10 yr old petrol Citroen.

Any eco warriors out there know ? I'm not an eco warrior just like the idea of half price fuel, if it saves the planet as well then that is just a bonus. My main motives are entirely mercenary though....

[Clogzz]

All Citroens from the year 2000 will drink petrol with amounts of ethanol to 15%.
As for saving the planet, it will be from uprisings because growing fuel uses farmland.

[charentejohn]

I thought that myself and did wonder how much fuel an acre of plants produce, similar to corn oil I guess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; shows usage, I think I have seen something on producing bio ethanol fuel chemically rather than growing it so maybe something there. Seems some places using 25% mix in petrol already.

All fuel has an enegy cost so no way round it, the best is always going to be the lesser of many evils. Just depends what the best way is to produce fuel as it will always be produced while they are making cars.
There is always this http://www.mdi.lu/english/cityflowair.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but I see they have made it dual fuel to appease the oil lobby and to make it taxable I guess. Maybe the future but not for a while yet ?

I had never heard of using 100% ethanol in a car though and wondered how the engine would cope.

[SaabC5]

A few Saab 9-3's and 9-5's were produced that ran Bio-Ethanol. From memory its not quite as efficient as petrol but more powerful, at the last count there were only 8-10 filling stations in the UK that sold Bio so few were sold.

[charentejohn]

That is the problem with this sort of thing, nice idea but no supply. Same as electric cars which need charging stations so you don't run out.
I will look around here to see just how many do ethanol, I know of one only at the moment. That raises another question I guess, can the ethanol and petrol be mixed, I would assume so.

[Diabolical]

A friend who has a house in France bought device that plugs into the ECU for his 4 litre Jeep! so it can run on Ethanol and petrol.
Cost about 150 euro but I don't know if he's fitted it yet.

[Spaces]

There's a third less energy in bio-ethanol, so the fueling needs to be increased accordingly. It will stand a very high compression ratio, that's where Saab made the difference up.

[Richard_C]

It might be a good idea in France. As someone has already said, 15% Ethanol is Ok and commonplace there. In the UK, people were getting started with the idea and SAAB did have a couple of very decent engines. Then the Government tapered off the initial tax advantages so pump Bio was hardly any cheaper than pump petrol, that killed it off. South America, plenty of sun and more space than people, can grow sugar and make ethanol, so I think Brazil uses lots. I wonder if theer is a Citroen Brazil website that would help you?. Its not just the engines: thngs like rubber seals in the fuel lines have to be right as well, but anything recent should be.

[myglaren]