FuelClub Discount

As you drive your car and stare at the petrol gauge, you can take heart that you are not the only one hurting from rising fuel prices.

It has affected the car industry itself in a way that may see the end of cars as we know them.

The change is making its presence felt in America, where people have always embraced the big petrol engine. But it seems its days are numbered.

One of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, General Motors, has announced it is closing four of its plants because of the increasing price of fuel.
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A controversial plan backed by Indonesia’s president to turn water into cheap and limitless energy has run aground, with tests showing the wonder fuel is just plain diesel, a report said Tuesday.

Government scientists have revealed that tests on the so-called “Blue Energy,” purportedly made from water, showed it was diesel from state oil company Pertamina, the Jakarta Post reported.

“Blue Energy is nothing extraordinary as it is just a form of hydrocarbon or fossil fuel,” Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman was quoted as saying.
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Bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD), a high-quality biodiesel suitable for blending to create a greener alternative fuel for vehicles, would be launched commercially after tests prove successful, said PTT Plc president Prasert Bunsumpun.

Testing of the hydrogenation process to produce BHD from vegetable oil would be completed next year.

BHD can be mixed in a 10:90 ratio with diesel fuel, compared with the 5:95 ratio of the existing B100 biodiesel to diesel fuel.

PTT, the state-run oil and gas conglomerate, signed an agreement on Friday to collaborate with Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and two of the Japanese automaker’s local units to research BHD. Toyota would supply Hilux Vigo pickup trucks and diesel engines to PTT for the tests.
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Hey, if you were in the business of manufacturing products that some of your biggest customers could no longer afford to operate, you’d be scrambling for options, too.

The Berlin Air Show kicked off yesterday, and not surprisingly, much of the focus is on alternative fuels. The show takes place every two years and is a big deal: over 1,000 exhibitors from 37 countries gather at Berlin’s Schönefeld Airport to show off planes, cut deals, and talk about the state of the aerospace business.

Yesterday the two commercial jet giants took the stage to talk up some of their latest alternative fuel innovations.
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Biofuel pioneers who ran a lorry to Timbuktu on factory reject chocolate are hoping to enlist supporters in a novel holiday this summer. A two-week “Grease to Greece” rally will challenge entrants to drive from London to Athens in diesel cars fuelled only by cooking oil.

The drivers, as well as raising money for the British Heart Foundation, will win points for speed on racetrack sections and for “fat finding” at restaurants and takeaways along the 2,500-mile route. Entry requirements include “the ability to explain to a Croatian kebab shop owner that you need his grease”.

It is the latest in organiser Andy Pag’s series of attempts to highlight cheap alternatives to diesel using recycled fat. “The aim is also to give a further test to our belief that waste vegetable oil for long distances is practical and feasible, and to have a bit of a laugh on the way,” said Pag, 34. “Contrary to popular perception, diesel engines don’t need to be converted to run on biodiesel, and most diesel cars can comfortably cope with blending vegetable oil in with regular fuel.”
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If you think gas is expensive, be thankful you’re not a trucker. Filling up an 18-wheel, 80,000-pound leviathan can top $1,300 these days.

Because of short supply, the price of diesel has risen more than twice as much as gasoline in the past year, reaching an all time high of $4.33 a gallon last week. With little hope of a near-term decline — oil hit a record $129.07 a barrel Tuesday — the run-up is causing panic and prompting radical cultural and technological shifts in the struggling trucking industry.

Instead of obsessing over chrome trim or the latest cab amenities to ease life on the road, truck owners and operators fed up with getting 5 miles per gallon are delving into long-ignored subjects like aerodynamics, slower cruising speeds and more efficient tires.
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