Diesel car sales to 'plummet' next year?

The demise of diesel in Ireland is already becoming apparent, with some in the Irish motor trade believing it will plunge to just 55pc of registrations of new cars in 2018, writes Brian Byrne.

That would be a lower percentage of diesel cars than in 2009. If the slide is as precipitous as it looks from now, it could cause serious headaches for the motor trade, and for current owners of diesel-engined cars.

In particular, the value of those cars when it comes to replacing them is in danger of being unexpectedly low, which could mean owners being unable to afford to change.

For the growing number of cars bought on Personal Contract Plans (PCP), it poses difficulties for dealerships and distributors which have sold them on a guaranteed residual value.

Even if the car owners won't get stung for the difference, they can't expect to continue to have an expected retained equity in their cars to use for 'recycling' the PCP for a new car.

Already with more than half of all projected sales of cars for 2017 completed, the proportion of diesels has slumped to 65.2pc of registrations.

This compares to 70.6pc of sales in 2016, before the impact of the Volkswagen diesel scandal began to hit home. Investigations are continuing into whether other brands were involved in manipulating diesel emissions figures.

Diesel cars bought by ordinary family motorists began to gain popularity in 2008, when a new Green Party-inspired Road Tax regime based on CO2 emissions was introduced here. The year before, just 27.9pc of all Irish registrations were diesels, mostly in larger cars.

In 2009 the diesel penetration was already up to 56.6pc, climbing rapidly to 74.2pc in 2012. Through 2011-2016 the proportion of diesel cars sold remained above seven in ten vehicles.

The slip began this year with an increasing number of enquiries from potential buyers about petrol and hybrid options. This was particularly noticeable in Toyota showrooms, as the company has the highest number of hybrid options across its model range.

But even models without hybrid options, the interest in petrol engines increased beyond expectation. "With our Corolla, for instance, we expected a proportion of 28pc being petrol for 2017, but it is closer to 40pc in practice," a spokesman says. "We were actually caught on the hop with the demand."

Earlier this year, Honda Ireland launched their new generation Civic with two turbocharged petrol engines, leaving a diesel version for later addition. In 2014, 76pc of Civics were diesel powered, last year that was down to 60pc.

In the first six months of 2017, hybrid accounted for 28 percent of Toyota’s total sales volume. This has increased to 34 percent for the first month of the new 172 registration period. Demand for petrol electric hybrid in the core B, C and C-SUV segments continues to grow with hybrid accounting for 37 percent of all Yaris, 51 percent of all Auris and 76 percent for C-HR sales in July. Only 13 percent of Toyota vehicles sold in Dublin currently are diesel.

A rise in fuel duty of up to 3c is widely expected in the upcoming Budget, as Government evens out the duty which currently favours diesel.

New service station at Newtownmountkennedy

A new €4 million, Texaco-branded service station has been opened on the approach to Newtownmountkennedy village in Co Wicklow, writes Trish Whelan.

Set on an 8.5 acre site bordered by trees on all sides, the new outlet has been under construction since May of last year and is located little more than 200 yards from Junction 12 on the main Dublin to Wexford dual-carriageway.

Family-owned and managed by Gerard Marbach and his son Benjamin, both from Enniskerry, facilities include comfortable access and generous turning space for commercial vehicles, coaches, vans and cars; sufficient pumping power to fuel up to 12 vehicles simultaneously, a convenience store operating under the Daybreak brand, and a Bewley’s Coffee cafe with its own separate seating area.

Open from 6am until 10.30pm daily, plans are in hand to extend this to a 24-hour a day operation.

Future plans for the site envisage the construction of a motor showrooms and a Continental-style retail development on the lines of Cork’s renowned English Market housing a bakery, restaurant and numerous other artisan outlets, with up to 250 car parking spaces adjoining.



Gerard and Benjamin Marbach are pictured on the forecourt of their new €4 million service station at Newtownmountkennedy.

Big increase in 'fuel stretching' victims

At least 500 motorists are now believed to have had the engines of their care ruined through the 'fuel stretching' scam, writes Brian Byrne.

And, according to the journalist who brought the scam to the notice of the public, 'there's little visible activity' on the part of the authorities in trying to eliminate it.

The matter involves rogue traders adding up to 10 percent of cheaper home heating kerosene to petrol, which causes a build up of carbon in the engines, inflicting irreparable damage.

Padraic Deane, publisher of Autotrade.ie — and the Irish juror on the World Engine of the Year Awards, who highlighted the issue some weeks ago, has now increased five-fold the estimate of damaged engines, which is mainly happening to smaller engined cars because they mostly are petrol engines.

"The Revenue Commissioners, Customs and Excise and gardai have all been investigating petrol stretching," Padraic Deane says. "There is a significant fuel contamination issue, but there is little visible activity taking place to stop activity that's costing hundreds of motorists thousands of euro each in damage to their cars. If the price of petrol looks too good to be true then, in this case, it probably is."

The scam is worse in the west, border counties, and parts of the midlands, and mostly involves operators new to the petrol business who take short term leases on independent forecourts. The message is, buy from outlets run by large and established retail chains.

'Petrol stretching' new danger for motorists

Motorists are being warned to be wary of cheap fuel after Revenue officials launched a probe into 'petrol stretching' writes Padraic Deane, publisher of autotrade.ie.

Revenue Commissioners, Customs and Excise and Gardai have been investigating the practice after reports of significant fuel contamination in the west border regions and midlands.

Petrol stretching involves adding up to 10 percent of kerosene to petrol before selling it to unwitting drivers.

Kerosene, which is used as a fuel for heating, is widely available for just 80c per litre, as opposed to petrol which is close to double that at €1.55.

It's estimated that over 100 petrol cars have already had their engines badly damaged by petrol stretching, including some rented 142-registration cars.

Kerosene will damage an engine even more quickly than most laundered diesel and vehicles with smaller petrol engines are most at risk. Motorists should watch out for a lack of power and misfiring of the engine. They may also experience a knocking noise. Report any incidents to An Garda.

Fuel taxes 'simply too high' — AA Ireland

As the prices of petrol and road diesel once again rose in September, AA Ireland says these costs are still unacceptably high, writes Brian Byrne.

The motorists' organisation says most of our fuel cost problems are 'self-inflicted', with too much tax in the pump price.

There have been five separate tax increases on petrol and diesel since 2008, AA Ireland notes, with taxes responsible for 57 percent of the retail cost of petrol and 51 percent of diesel.

High fuel costs add to the cost of living, take disposable income out of the economy and add significantly to the high cost of doing business in Ireland, according to the organisation which was formed to defend motoring issues, adding that it's now the right time to ease the burden and provide a stimulus to the economy in the forthcoming Budget.

The organisation notes that a typical monthly fuel cost for motorists today is almost €242, compared to just €207 before the 'emergency' Budget of 2008.

Breakthrough brings hydrogen closer

Scientists at Penn State University in the US may have brought the 'holy grail' of a hydrogen-based fuel system a bit closer, writes Brian Byrne.

While hydrogen is an almost perfect product for use in a variety of power systems from fuel cells to the familiar internal combustion engine, its energy-hungry production makes it costly and ungreen.

But the Penn State scientists have succeeded at laboratory level in producing the stuff at little energy costs, using bacteria in waste water and a reverse desalination process to provide the small amount of energy required to kick the system off.

The microbial electrolysis cells can break down matter in wastewater to release hydrogen, but they need a little electricity to jolt them into action. The reverse desalination system produces that energy at virtually no cost.

If the system can be scaled up to commercial production, it's a very cost effective way of producing a real replacement for fossil fuels.

Uninsured cars 'won't get petrol' plan

British Government officials are said to be considering a new way of tackling uninsured cars—by making it impossible for them to fill up at petrol stations, writes Brian Byrne.

The scheme would use CCTV cameras already in place to discourage motorists driving away without paying for petrol, according to a report in the Mirror newspaper. The cameras use automatic numberplate recognition technology and only allow fuel to be poured when the registration number has been logged.

The scheme would involve linking the cameras with the UK's car registration database, the DVLA. This already knows whether cars are insured or not.

If the scheme was implemented, petrol wouldn't pour for an uninsured car.

Critics are calling the plan 'daft', 'Big Brother', and ask what about all the people who come to petrol stations with cans to fuel lawnmowers and other garden machines?

It is estimated Britain has 1.4m motorists who drive without insurance. That's one in 25, said to be the worst rate in Europe.

Fuel laundering costs the State €150m a year

Retail Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the retail sector, has called for tax reform and a better resourced Garda and Revenue response to illegal diesel laundering. The group said at least 12 percent of all diesel sold in Ireland is illegal, costing the State €150m a year.

Retail Ireland Chairman and Topaz Director Frank Gleeson said rising prices have encouraged criminals to exploit the big difference in price between diesel intended for agricultural use, and for road use. In a submission, Retail Ireland have asked the Government to equalize the duty rates for agri fuel and motor fuel to stop the illegal fuel trade as lower taxed fuel wouldn't be available. They also want the introduction of a reclaim system for agri fuel users, and a robust marker to be introduced to agri gas oil that makes it easily detected by Revenue as well as the traceability of fuel from port to forecourt.

A further negative knock-on effect for legitimate forecourt retailers is their stores suffer as fewer customers enter the premises. The consequence is fewer hours worked, job losses and in some cases business closures.

Retail Ireland want filling stations and sites selling illegal diesel to be closed down. Apart from border counties, illegal fuel has been found in Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly and Dublin which suggests the illegal fuel market is spreading.

Budget: Petrol increase will add €72 a year to costs

The additional cost of the petrol increases announced in the Budget will add around €72 a year to the cost of motoring, according to the AA.

The organisation said the increases bring the cost of petrol in Ireland 'to an all-time high'. A spokesman added that if it wasn't for excise increases in the last two years, the cost of petrol would be around €1.21 a litre now, instead of the projected €1.40.

In the emergency budget of October 2008, 8 cent per litre was added to excise duty on Petrol. The following April, 5 cent was added to diesel. In December of 2009, a Carbon Tax of 4.2 cent and 4.9 per litre was added to the two fuels respectively. Vat at 21% is also added.

Budget: Petrol, diesel up

Petrol goes up by 4 cents a litre, and auto diesel by 2 cents a litre, from midnight tonight.

The car Scrappage Scheme is to be extended until June 30 2011, with a reduced maximum of €1,250 VRT relief.

Tax relief for hybrid and flexfuel vehicles is also to be extended until 2012, at a rate of €1,500. The rate of relief for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be €2,500 until the end of 2012.

Ireland 'losing opportunities' in fuel

Ireland has allowed opportunities to pass by in terms of producing fuel for transport in a sustainable way.

That's the view of Michael Moroney, Chairman of the Irish Motoring Writers Association, who says we have, as an agricultural country, the capacity to combine sustainably food and fuel production.

Speaking at the recent Continental Irish Car of the Year 2011 Awards, which are organised by the IMWA, he said that by going 'headlong' into electric cars, we are ignoring other opportunities where we could generate carbon savings and cost efficiencies. "We could do this while supporting indigenous employment and a clean environment," he said.

Noting that electric vehicles will arrive in numbers on Irish roads during 2011, he said that as a green-driven initiative across Europe, it is to be 'broadly welcomed', but the reality is that less than 5 percent of new cars will be electrically powered by 2020, according to all estimates.

"We have given little support to the opportunity to blend waste recycling with energy production in a practical way even though we have led world research on the subject. This means more to us because we are rated as the highest distance drivers in the world, averaging 20,000km per annum, while still importing 99 percent of our liquid transport energy supplies."

He said it was 'sad' that the Four Year Plan produced by the Government had sought the soft option of doubling carbon tax. "This is another €330m penalty on the motorist, and that’s before the VRT changes due in 2013," he concluded. "Let us hope that a refocusing of our national strategies will allow our new policy makers to develop a broader outlook."

Warning on 'bad' diesel fuel

Motorists in the Louth-Meath area have been getting stung with 'bad' diesel, sometimes resulting in massive repair bills.

AA Ireland's Conor Faughnan said yesterday that one motorist had got caught for a €2,000 bill to repair the damage caused by the illicit fuel. He warned that there was 'little chance' of recovering the money.

"Buy carefully," he said, after talking on radio station LMFM about the problem.

The border counties have regularly had problems with 'laundered' diesel, often involving low-duty agricultural fuel which has been chemically treated to remove the marker dye.

The Department of the Environment says it is aware of the problem. The department says the Revenue Commissioners should be contacted in the matter of any suspicions about laundered fuel being sold.

More on cellulose biofuels

A novel chemical process developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison converts cellulose from agricultural waste into gasoline and jet fuel. (From Technology Review.)

Biofuel progress

The ongoing research into more efficient production of biofuels continues to fascinate us here and C+T. This latest from Technology Review is a bacterial updater.

Biofuel breakthrough

While the limelight seems to have shifted of late from biofuels, in favour of electric technology developments, research is ongoing to get more efficient methods of extracting biofuels from less food-sensitive sources.

This latest breakthrough looks promising. From Technology Review.

Reverse into fuel saving

You can save up to €2 of fuel per week by simply reversing your car into a parking space, so you drive away forwards. It's also safer.

According to Irish Advanced Motorists, reversing out of a space when the car's engine is cold uses around 20 to 25 times more petrol in the first few seconds than it does when warm. If you do this 10 to 12 times a week that adds up to a cost of about €100 a year, not to mention the increased wear on the car’s engine.

Also, reversing into somewhere you can see (a parking bay) rather than reversing out into somewhere you can’t see (often a line of moving traffic) is much safer. It is also easier to control a car going forwards than backwards when it is first started, and attempting a potentially high risk manoeuvre such as reversing when you have just entered a car and are not concentrating fully, is more dangerous.

From a security point of view, reversing close to an object such as a wall can make it more difficult for thieves to gain access and, if you need to leave a parking space quickly for personal security reasons, driving forward provides you with better acceleration and improved vision.

Shell, Statoil brands going

The Shell and Statoil petrol brands are to disappear in Ireland and will be replaced by a new brand, Topaz.

The 50 million euros rebranding will affect 350 Shell and Statoil stations and 100 convenience stores.

Topaz says the change will also result in 400 new jobs.

Topaz, one of Ireland’s largest privately owned companies, has a turnover of over 3.5 billion euros a year.