US needs FFVs to cut oil demand – consultant

17 June 2008 23:19  [Source: ICIS news]

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (ICIS news)--The US needs to implement a flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) standard in addition to its ethanol mandate to wean itself of Middle Eastern crude oil imports, a consultant said on Tuesday.

FFVs are already sold in the US, but demand for this type of vehicle remains largely subdued due to the lack of fuel stations equipped with ethanol (E85) pumps.

A mandate could change that because the number of FFVs on US roads would increase rapidly, and more E85 pumps would be installed once demand is there, said biofuels advocate and author Robert Zubrin.

Zubrin said legislation would soon be introduced in the US Congress aimed at passing a mandate for FFVs.

Under the bill half of US automobiles would have to be FFV-compliant by 2012. That figure would jump to 80% by 2015, he said.

“It would cost US carmakers about $100 (€65) more to make the change,” Zubrin said, adding that the mandate could be achieved and would represent billions of dollars in savings for the US in the long run.

An aerospace engineer by trade, Zubrin has spoken extensively against US dependence on foreign crude oil.

Among his works is a book in which he claims that part of the US money spent on Middle Eastern oil can be eventually used against the US through state-sponsored terrorism.

“The US will spend about $650bn on foreign crude oil in 2008, up from $40bn in 1990 and $4bn in 1972.”

Most of this money will to go to countries that are hostile to the US, he said.

Zubrin spoke at the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo held this week in Nashville, Tennessee.

($1 = €0.65)

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By: William Lemos
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