Launch of a vast Ford range, more favorable regulations: in 2021, the planets have aligned for bioethanol. But it is above all the rise in the prices of other fuels that has driven its growth, even if the number of motorists who have really converted to them remains small.
Even if it contains only 15 to 35% unleaded gasoline from petroleum, bioethanol has seen its prices increase slightly in recent weeks. But the inflation of its prices remained much lower than that of other fuels. Sold at €0.75/l on average in January 2022, E85 thus appears more attractive than ever. We will therefore not be surprised to learn that its sales increased by 33% in 2021, compared to a year 2020 it is true that it is special. Especially since the number of service stations has also increased by 18%.
There are thus now 2,725 establishments in France, spread over the whole territory except Corsica and Overseas, which distribute this “green” fuel made mainly from sugars from sugar plants, such as beets, and cereals. However, we could have expected even stronger volume growth since it had reached 85% between 2018 and 2019, and the number of eligible models was greatly increased last year.
A new offer still quite low
From the start of 2021, Ford had indeed announced the launch of a wide range of compatible vehicles from the factory, ranging from the Fiesta to the Kuga hybrid, via the Focus or the Transit Connect utility. An initiative which the brand can only welcome: only marketed from the summer, or even in the fall for the family SUV, these new Flexifuel variants accounted for more than two out of three orders in the last quarter! On the Kuga, this proportion even reaches 79%, and 63% on the manufacturer’s bestseller in France, the Puma. The latter will add a new argument in 2022: its E85 version will now be equipped with light hybridization which will lower its CO emissions.2 under 120 g/km. It will thus be able to benefit from an exemption from tax on company vehicles (TVS) for 12 quarters. But in this period of shortage of semiconductors, deliveries are not necessarily able to keep up with this strong demand, and competition remains above all almost absent. Apart from the Fords, only the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Jaguar E-Pace, quite expensive SUVs in their genre, can also run on ethanol without the slightest modification.
More than 30,000 new enclosures installed
With such a low supply, even if they are growing strongly, E85 compatible models therefore only represent a tiny part of new car sales in France: the bioethanol sector announces registrations close to 6,000 copies in 2021, of which nearly 2,000 in the month of December alone, compared to the more than 660,000 units recorded for gasoline and still nearly 350,000 for diesel, which is losing momentum. Most of the fleet that runs on ethanol with a valid vehicle registration document is thus made up of vehicles equipped with approved conversion units. There are now no less than 135,000 in the French rolling stock, compared to barely 45,000 for the original flexfuel vehicles. With a clear boost in 2021, since more than 30,000 additional kits would have been installed in twelve months. But we are still very far from the maximum potential of this market, which was further expanded by the publication of a decree in 2021 to make petrol vehicles with particulate filters and those of 15 CV and more compatible. The bioethanol sector thus estimates that more than 10 million private vehicles could potentially be fitted with approved boxes in France.
A cake shared by two companies
One of the two biggest players in the industry, FlexFuel Energy Development, installed almost 16,000 converter boxes in 2021 and hopes to do much more in the coming years.
Another downside, this cake is only really shared between two companies, fairly evenly: FlexFuel Energy Development claims 16,000 conversion kits installed in 2021 and its competitor Biomotors announces around 15,000. The other two players having obtained a approval, Borel and eFlexFuel Technology, for their part, must be content with crumbs. For the two sector leaders, however, the continued rise in conventional fuel prices has been a real boon.
“” During the last six months of the year, records were broken every month says Jérôme Loubert, Commercial Director of FlexFuel Energy Development. ” October: 2,000 boxes, November: 3,000 boxes per month, and today we have a trend that allows us to envisage 2022 around 25,000 boxes » .“
It is therefore clearly not this sector that will campaign for a reduction in taxes on petrol and diesel. In 2022, it hopes on the contrary to obtain other advantages from the political powers, such as a Crit’Air 1 sticker for all vehicles equipped with a conversion kit, even the oldest ones, or a reduction in CO emissions2 40% for the calculation of the TVS, already granted as part of the ecological penalty. Thanks to this deduction, the Kuga Flexifuel hybrid could in turn benefit from an exemption from this tax. Enough to convince companies which are still very rare to have adopted E85 in their fleets.
TO READ. Ethanol: everything you need to know about E85 fuel. Prices, models, boxes…
