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News
from the latest FBHVC newsletter
Regular
newsletters are issued by the Federation of British Historic
Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) with updates of news and developments
on legislative matters, fuel news, MOT test changes and DVLA
local office changes. Their
latest newsletter for can be seen online. More
What is the FBHVC?
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) is
a grouping of historic vehicle clubs and museums together
with some trade and Individual Supporters.
FBHVC website
Biofuels
information gateway
See our useful links on the information gateway for this topic.
More
Posted: 200412
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Extracts
from the FBHVC newsletter - April 2012
Targeted consultation on proposed amendments to
the Biofuel (Labelling) Regulations 2004
- DfT decision not to legislate
The DfT response to this consultation, which closed
in October 2011, has now been published. The document
says: "We proposed to implement article 21
of the RED by amending the Biofuel (Labelling) Regulations
2004 (as amended) to introduce a labelling requirement
for biofuels containing over 10% biofuel. Consultation
responses have raised genuine concerns regarding
how useful the new biofuel label would be to consumers.
In addition, similar labelling is already taking
place as a result of existing domestic legislation
and industry self-regulation. After careful consideration
and taking into account comments received during
consultation, we have decided we do not need
to legislate further to give full effect to article
21(1) of the RED. As such we will not introduce
the draft regulations proposed in our consultation.
The DfT has indicated that UK targets for biofuel
uptake are set at 5% for the 2013/14 financial year
as an average across all petrol and diesel. It is
believed that the oil industry has no plans to
introduce petrol containing 10% ethanol before this
date. Most 95 octane petrol sold in the UK now
contains 5% ethanol by volume, but at this concentration,
there is no requirement to display a label advertising
its ethanol content. The requirement for labelling
only exists if ethanol content rises above 5%.
The issue of pump labelling is currently
under discussion, and will be the responsibility
of the British Standards Institute. The time-frame
for the arrival of petrol containing 10% ethanol
looks to be about 2 years in the future, so discussions
are in their early days. However, it is believed
that there are two key issues which will apply to
pump labels:
> A
desire for harmonisation across Europe (petrol containing
ethanol at 10% may be designated E10, for example),
as in some continental European countries.
> The inclusion of a statement about the
suitability of the fuel for road vehicles. One option
being considered is the use of a list indicating
models which manufacturers have stated are compatible
with the fuel. Vehicles not on the list would be
regarded as not compatible. This category would
include almost all, if not all, historic vehicles,
(unless their owners had taken steps to ensure compatibility).
These
topics are currently under consideration, and it
is expected that a clearer picture will emerge later
in the year, when definitive proposals come up for
discussion.
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Fuel
stakeholders' meeting held on 17th March 2012
The DfT invited FBHVC member clubs to a Fuel Stakeholders'
meeting on 17th February 2012 to discuss ethanol
in petrol. The content of the FBHVC report in the
newsletter on the fuel stakeholders meeting is substantially
the same as our NEWS report posted in February 2012
based on our notes from attending the meeting.
See our NEWS report. More
See further information on the FBHVC website. More
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FBHVC
fuel stability additives testing and endorsement
scheme
Although the FBHVC newsletter says the "results
of the tests on the fuel stability additives are
not quite ready at the time of writing", an
announcement was made recently and reported as a
NEWS item on the V8 website. More
FBHVC notes in its newsletter "these products
do make a significant difference and provide good
corrosion protection. The FBHVC's official endorsement
will be given to all additive products that pass
the tests and the suppliers will be entitled to
show the FBHVC logo on the packaging along with
the endorsement." The FBHVC mentions "it
is worthwhile repeating that these products have
only been tested for corrosion protection
- they will not protect against other materials
incompatibility issues which may arise as a
result of using petrol containing ethanol and we
cannot comment about any other properties claimed
by the suppliers.
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