Plant power will be propelling NFU president Peter Kendall to his appointments from this week onwards, thanks to a new car on loan from Saab which runs on biofuel.
Kendall took delivery of a Saab 9-5 Biopower estate at the beginning of the week, which runs on E85 bioethanol. The Saab 9-5 is a flex-fuel car. Its fossil carbon dioxide emission level can be reduced by as much as 70 per cent compared to a standard petrol-engine car. The 9-5 model is capable of running on either a high-blend mixture of renewable energy source bioethanol and petrol (E85 fuel), or on pure petrol, without any adjustment required by the driver.
An obviously excited Kendall said: “Driving a bioethanol powered vehicle is no different to driving a normal petrol car. But it’s great to be able to demonstrate, on the road, the contribution that can be made by agriculture and alternative land uses in terms of reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from road transport.”
More details on the new Saab will be featured in the August edition of British Farmer and Grower which will be landing on NFU members’ doormats this weekend.
