Like the environment-loving Swedes you'd expect them to be, Volvo has just launched its first bio-fuel compatible cars in Ireland, 1.8-litre 125bhp versions of the S40 and V50. Both cars use the same engine as found in the Ford Focus FFV and C-Max FFV, and it can run on a diet of E85 bio-fuel (currently only supplied in Ireland by Maxol, which is supplied by Carbery Foods in Cork, who make the fuel by distilling leftover why from cheese making) or conventional 95 RON unleaded or any mixture of the two. Unlike fellow Scandinavian Saab, whose 9-5 2.0-turbo gets a 30bhp boost when running on bio-fuel (which has a higher octane rating than unleaded) the S40 and V50 put out the same power regardless of the fuel mix.
Although CO2 emissions at the exhaust pipe are actually higher than when running on unleaded, because of bio-fuel's lower calorific content, which means you have to burn more of it for the same performance, the Flexi-Fuel Volvos actually emit around 80% less carbon than a conventional car, when taking the entire carbon cycle into consideration. That's because the carbon emitted by burning the fuel is absorbed by the next batch of plants being grown for more fuel.
"In Ireland, while the infrastructure for bioethanol is still in its infancy, the interest is certainly growing" says David Baddeley, Managing Director for Volvo Cars in Ireland. "As such we are delighted that Ireland is in the forefront of countries to be able to benefit from the significant developments in flexifuel cars made by Volvo in Sweden."
Both cars gain a 50% VRT reduction thanks to their environmental friendliness, so the 1.8-litre S40 Flexi-Fuel SE only costs €28,300. That's €50 less than a basic, petrol-only S40 1.6.
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