UK Firm Taps Unlimited Fuel Source to Power Test Car

We’re proud to be British at Tyres & Accessories and we eagerly follow any automotive industry developments originating in our island home. Therefore we were thrilled to hear that GENeco, a company owned by Wessex Water, has successfully trialled a Volkswagen Beetle powered by a fuel guaranteed to never run out or cause major headaches in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Beetle runs on biogas, or to be more specific, it runs on biogas produced from sewage flowing at a treatment works in Avonmouth. GENeco calculates that the end-user product from just 70 Bristol homes suffices to power the Bio-Bug for an average of 10,000 miles, depending on driving conditions and householder appetite, with no loss in performance. The gas produced from the sewage is treated using a process known as biogas upgrading; this involves carbon dioxide being separated from the biogas.

“Our site at Avonmouth has been producing biogas for many years which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid,” said GENeco general manager Mohammed Saddiq. “With the surplus gas we had available we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way. We decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK.”

A number of companies in the UK are now using CNG mainly to fuel buses and commercial vehicles, yet using biogas from sewage sludge is yet to take off here despite the production of significant quantities every day at sewage plants around the country – the Bristol sewage treatment works alone produces around 18 million cubic metres of biogas each year. GENeco believes that if all the biogas produced there was converted to run cars it would prevent the release of around 19,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere – and drivers would be not inconvenienced in the slightest. “If you were to drive the car you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around,” Saddiq commented.

Bath-based Greenfuel Company converted the Beetle to run on biogas while bosses from GENeco ran a workshop at a University of Bath event for teenagers from schools in Bath and North East Somerset to come up with ideas for the car’s design. “The choice of car was inspired by students who took part in a workshop,” explained Saddiq. “They thought it would be appropriate that the pooh-powered car should be the classic VW Beetle Bug because bugs naturally breakdown waste at sewage works to start the treatment process which goes on to produce the energy.” Perhaps another, unsaid reason behind the choice of car is that the man who ordered production of the original Beetle almost 80 years ago was full of the stuff that is now used as a source of fuel for the Bio-Bug.