Système U, a chain of gas stations in France, has decided to stop delivering E85 at the 22 pumps where it was on sale. According to the company's press release, "This biofuel has not found its public. The French adhesion is just not there." Système U comprises more than 900 shops in France, 600 of which have gas pumps.The 22 pumps where E85 was distributed barely sold an average of 1000 liters a day (about 250 gallons), mainly because of the low number of flex-fuel vehicles currently running in France. Previously Système U's had plans to grow to 100 pumps in two years' time. Currently, only 211 pumps in France are selling E85, 43 at Leclerc and 42 at Carrefour supermarkets.
France is actually in "pause mode" regarding first-generation biofuels, as French Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo announced last week. However, he also said that current investments in this technology should be "honored."
[Source: Les Echos via Le Blog Auto]
That Saab loves itself some ethanol is no secret, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the Saab Great Britain's managing director, Jonathan Nash, isn't too pleased with the UK's Chancellor decision to take away the fuel tax rebate for biofuels starting in 2010. Nash said the move shows that the government might be turning its back on biofuels and that the UK will fall behind other European countries on the biofuel front. Nash's full statement is pasted after the jump, but here's a bit of the flavor:
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