South Korean car manufacturer SsangYong – owned and controlled by China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) – reportedly is using New Zealand as a test bed for waste vegetable oil (WVO) as a fuel.
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According to the stuff.co.nz website, ChangingWorld.com reported that Ssangyong has provided a 2.9-litre turbo-diesel Musso that Lower Hutt-based company Renewable Energy Solutions has converted to a dual-fuel vehicle running on either “Envirofuel” – recycled waste cooking oil – or conventional diesel fuel.
Renewable Energy Solutions is also in the process of converting a 2.7-litre diesel SsangYong Stavic (a new 7-seater minivan) to test the fuel, according to the reports.
David Renwick, of Renewable Energy, has been running the Musso 4WD on fish and chips oil for over a year and plans to offer a conversion kit for vehicles at $NZ5000 which would include a 1000-litre home tank to top up with waste vege oil, which he said, on his company’s website, costs 49c/litre.
Tests reportedly had shown fuel consumption was about a third better than on using commercial diesel.
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By GlobalDataNo chemicals were added to the oil, but it was warmed in the vehicle’s tank to the point where it was thin enough to be properly atomised by the fuel injectors. This enabled it to burn properly, without forming deposits on the injectors and in the cylinder head.
The company’s vehicle conversion included two fuel tanks – one for diesel, one for vegetable oil – a heater for the vegetable oil and an injection management system that could handle both.
Russell Burling, chairman of SsangYong’s Australian importer Rapson Holdings, is reported to have said that he would like to trial the Envirofuel technology in Australia.
The company was planning to bring in an NZ engineer next month to look at the requirements for trials in Australia.
“SsangYong Korea is also interested,” Burling reportedly said. “Definitely with the way fuel prices have gone we must investigate alternatives.”
The reports said that, at the time of SAIC’s initial acquisition of 48.9% of SsangYong in January, SsangYong CEO So Jin-kwan stated that SsangYong would concentrate on developing environmentally-friendly engines, with a diesel-hybrid engine possible. Currently, SsangYong uses Mercedes technology in its vehicles.
