The Ford Focus Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) is Britain's first bio-fuel car and can run on bio-ethanol or petrol in any mix in the same fuel tank. Bio-ethanol is a renewable fuel, on sale this month at 10 Morrisons supermarkets and priced cheaper than unleaded petrol from 84.9p a liter.Five of the forecourts selling bio-ethanol are in Somerset, where Ford has sold the most Focus FFVs. The remainder are in East Anglia – three in Norfolk and two in Suffolk. Somerset and Norfolk are two of the counties where Ford is working with regional bio-fuel groups to establish FFV sales and bio-ethanol filling stations.
Andy Taylor, Ford's European sustainability director, said: "This is an important breakthrough for the Ford Focus FFV and the bio-fuel industry. Ford has been working with partners such as Morrisons for a year to make bio-ethanol publicly available. Together we have taken a vital next step towards encouraging more customers to consider buying Ford's bio-fuel cars."
The 1.8-liter Ford Focus FFV costs from Ј14,095 ($24,700 USD approx.), in between the petrol-only 1.6 and 2.0-liter Focus models. CO2 emissions from bio-ethanol are almost cancelled out by the CO2 absorbed by the crops such as wheat and sugar beet used to make the sustainable fuel.
Source: © http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/03/16/000731.html
