Volkswagen’s Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) line of vehicles has for years offered environmentalists and fuel-conscious consumers the option of using biodiesel blends of up to 100 percent biofuel to run their engines. However, in recent years that all changed with VW having to conform to strict emissions regulations in the United States. The newer TDI lineup of vehicles (2009 and newer) features an “upgraded” (debatable) emissions cleansing system. While this system does clean the emissions from standard petroleum-based diesel fuel, it no longer allows for higher blends of biodiesel to be used, now restricting biofuel use to B5 blends (5 percent biodiesel to 95 percent petroleum diesel).
Volkswagen is featuring two ads in this year’s Super Bowl. One ad promotes the all-new VW Passat and the other VW’s redesigned new Beetle. Both of these cars will be available with TDI engines, which are capable of gas mileage in the 40 to 50 mpg range. Impressive, but what was more impressive was when you could achieve that kind of fuel efficiency using 100 percent biodiesel fuel.
What we have here is a classic example of environmental protection regulation backfiring. While it is absolutely necessary to ensure that industrial practices are as minimally destructive to the environment as possible, it is also counterintuitive when the regulations created actually promote increased fossil fuel consumption over biofuels. Several TDI aficionados have expressed their disappointment in the new TDI engines in blogs and Internet comment boards, even forming grassroots associations calling for biodiesel-compatible TDI engines to return to VW’s lineup. There were several instances in 2009 where buyers of the new TDIs were uninformed of the engine’s inability to use higher blend biodiesel—the whole reason they bought the car in the first place! VW is currently in the process of approving the new TDI engines for B20 biodiesel blends, but true-blooded biodiesel supporters—the “B100 or nothing” crew—are turning to older TDI models to get their biofuel fix.
Volkswagen is featuring two ads in this year’s Super Bowl. One ad promotes the all-new VW Passat and the other VW’s redesigned new Beetle. Both of these cars will be available with TDI engines, which are capable of gas mileage in the 40 to 50 mpg range. Impressive, but what was more impressive was when you could achieve that kind of fuel efficiency using 100 percent biodiesel fuel.
What we have here is a classic example of environmental protection regulation backfiring. While it is absolutely necessary to ensure that industrial practices are as minimally destructive to the environment as possible, it is also counterintuitive when the regulations created actually promote increased fossil fuel consumption over biofuels. Several TDI aficionados have expressed their disappointment in the new TDI engines in blogs and Internet comment boards, even forming grassroots associations calling for biodiesel-compatible TDI engines to return to VW’s lineup. There were several instances in 2009 where buyers of the new TDIs were uninformed of the engine’s inability to use higher blend biodiesel—the whole reason they bought the car in the first place! VW is currently in the process of approving the new TDI engines for B20 biodiesel blends, but true-blooded biodiesel supporters—the “B100 or nothing” crew—are turning to older TDI models to get their biofuel fix.
