Filling up a standard, unmodified modern vehicle with biodiesel

Location: Kings Langley

Vehicle: 2001 Land Rover Freelander TD4 (2L turbo diesel)

Interest in Biodiesel: I first heard about biodiesel nearly 5 years ago. In fact, when it came time to buy a new car, I looked all around for the smallest diesel passenger car I could find. Unfortunately, the Australian market has not yet woken up to the economy or environmental benefits of the diesel engine, unlike the Europeans, who have far more choice. We still seem obsessed with V8s and petrol, (though recently we’ve had a bit of a wake up call).

I did not really want a 4WD, but the Land Rover Freelander was the only diesel car with a 2L engine and it performed quite well for it’s size and offered excellent fuel economy, (not to mention the only option available in the Australian market).

The first thing I did after I bought the car was investigate running it on biodiesel. Land Rover were difficult to get a straight answer from and eventually just told me that it was too hard and they were not really sure. Next, I tried to find sources of the fuel. I was happy to make my own biodiesel, but would have preferred to just buy it.

I did my web searches and found Australian biodiesel sites that offered help, forums and membership – for a fee. After months of trying unsuccessfully to pay my fees, or even communicate with these people who claimed to be the answer to Australia’s biodiesel, I eventually gave up, disenchanted.

Recently, I got my second wind, and decided to build this site, and another as a forum for biofuels in general . I decided that the local Sydney biodiesel scene needed a good kick start and I hoped that by giving it a web front, I would at least ensure that what happened to me years earlier would not happen to others. Since putting up this site and the forum, there has been a huge amount of interest. I’m glad that the sites are now being used to help and connect people interested in biodiesel in Sydney (and in fact the rest of Australia as well).

The next step was finding a legitimate way to purchase biodiesel. Unfortunately, our Australian tax laws are very short-sighted in terms of home biodiesel production. Most other forward thinking nations offer help and encouragement to such environmentally friendly opportunities. We just think about how we can tax them. The result – the whole industry goes back-yard and underground. I’m hoping that eventually, we can all change this, but in the mean time, we are limited to a few commercial producers who do not really cater for the average driver who just wants to buy biodiesel from a bowser. As such, through the web sites, we organised a Sydney Biodiesel Purchasing Group , which was able to bulk buy some legal (excise paid) biodiesel and distribute it amongst its members.

Since then, I have added the fuel to my (unmodified) car and experienced the wonderful smoothness of biodiesel.

Hopefully I can leave my daughter a better, less polluted world.

Other comments: It still baffles me that all the other drivers out there either don’t know that this was the fuel the Diesel engine was made for , or refuse to accept any change to what they think they know and still think that dirty dino diesel is the best for their engine!

I really wanted to be an example to the local Sydney community that ANY DIESEL ENGINE CAN RUN BIODIESEL . It’s not some mythical weirdo greenie tree-hugger’s fuel that only old blokes run 20+ year old cars on. I’m an ordinary bloke, with a family, in the ‘burbs, who drives into work just like the rest of you and is dismayed by the smog he sees. “There has to be a better way”, well there is. I’m doing it and there’s no reason why you couldn’t too.

Please note: All members have their faces and number plates pixellated in these photos. Why? Because of the ridiculous Australian Tax laws regarding the home production of biodiesel. These rules essentially make these people outlaws for trying to do the right thing and run their vehicles on a fuel that does less harm to the environment. Those members who have legitimately bought the fuel excise paid, are also pixellated to help make the point.