VDA Managing Director Bräunig: E10 can save two million tonnes of CO2 every year
99 per cent of all cars from German manufacturers can use E10
Berlin, 25 April 2012. "Biofuels make an important contribution to climate protection and security of supply because they help reduce dependence on oil,” said Klaus Bräunig, Managing Director of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), at today’s ADAC event entitled "One year of E10 – how to proceed with biofuel policy in Germany?” Using biofuels had the key advantage that the CO2 savings are realised immediately in all the petrol-driven passenger cars on German roads, Bräunig said. "If all E10-compatible petrol cars were actually running on this biofuel, Germany could save over two million tonnes of CO2 annually,” he stressed.
By far the great majority of passenger cars with a petrol engine in Germany can be filled with E10. In total, around 99 per cent of all German-branded cars with a petrol engine can run on the new fuel. "Even before the introduction of E10, the German manufacturers published a detailed overview of which individual models are E10-compatible,” Bräunig underlined. This information, which is being continually updated with the addition of new vehicle models, is available on the website of the Deutsche Automobil-Treuhand (DAT, the German Car Trust Agency) (www.dat.de), and on the Internet pages of the VDA (www.vda.de) and the individual OEMs. There motorists can also check using the vehicle identification number, whether their model can take E10. The information issued on E10 compatibility is binding. Of course, this does not affect any of the consumer’s statutory rights.
"For over one year now, three million vehicles have been travelling regularly on our roads powered by E10. In that time there have been no known cases of engine damage owing to the use of this biofuel. All motorists can still quickly access extensive information on whether their vehicle will run on E10. The relevant monitoring has been carried out, but the dedicated telephone hotlines of the manufacturers are hardly getting any calls these days,” Bräunig said. So the fact that many motorists still chose to buy a different, more expensive type of fuel was not due to a lack of information about compatibility. Instead, he continued, many customers apparently harboured considerable doubt regarding the ecological benefit of E10. Although sustainability criteria ensured that the fuels did not lead to food production being displaced or rainforests destroyed, but are generated by sustainable production methods, some questions remain unanswered. Here the important thing is to improve communication concerning the origin and certification of the biofuels. "The automotive manufacturers, dealers and workshops will continue to provide information tailored to individual customers to increase the acceptance of E10. In addition, advertising is to be stepped up at the filling stations. Politicians should support the measures taken by the industry and utilise their options for providing consumer information,” Bräunig said.
"For the future the German automotive industry is backing not only optimisation of the classical internal combustion engine and development of alternative drive trains, all the way to electric mobility, but also – and in particular – production of intelligent second generation biofuels,” Bräunig added. "These biofuels are obtained from agricultural waste products and are of high quality. Moreover, they make a considerable contribution to climate protection and their overall environmental footprint is far superior to that of today’s fuels.”