Manufacturers of ethanol conversion kits boast of breaking sales records. But how many cases were really sold in the first quarter of 2022 and on which models were they mounted? L’argus reveals it to you exclusively with data from NGC-Data®.
The two main manufacturers of ethanol conversion kits, Biomotors and Flexfuel Energy Development, are rubbing their hands. Helped by the rise in the price of conventional fuels, they have never sold as many boxes as in this first quarter of 2022. The first thus announces an increase of 186% in the month of March alone compared to last year, when the second claims to have recorded ten times more orders over the first three months of 2022 than over the same period of 2021. But to offer you a more precise inventory of this young market, only open since the end of 2017 in France, the figures are much more complicated to find.
TO READ. Everything you need to know about E85 fuel: models, boxes, prices…
A growing but limited market
Fortunately, our partner NGC-Data® was able to help us by providing us with data on private vehicles which saw their gray card transformed after switching to ethanol in the first quarter of 2022. A mandatory administrative procedure after the installation of an approved ethanol box if you want to stay legal. These statistics confirm that the growth of conversion kit installations has been spectacular this year. The increase reached 344.55% compared to the same period of 2021, which for its part corresponded to a slight decrease of 12.9% compared to 2020. But in absolute terms, the volumes are still quite low on the scale of a country like France. Only 9,220 private vehicles were adapted to ethanol in 2022, a figure to be compared to the 1.39 million used cars traded at the same time.
Number of vehicles whose energy was converted to E85 in the 1st quarter in 2020, 2021 and 2022
| Q1 2020 | Q1 2021 | Evolution 2020/2021 | Q1 2022 | Evolution 2021/2022 | |
| Number of enclosures | 2,382 | 2074 | – 12.79% | 9,220 | + 344.55% |
TO READ. Bioethanol E85: the results of the sector in 2021
Older vehicles
Another striking observation: these transformations mainly concern older vehicles. Nearly 1/3 of them were carried out on models over eight years old, and only 386 on cars less than two years old. However, it is difficult to be surprised. Remember that the installation of an E85 unit is never trivial, this fuel being more corrosive than unleaded and having a lower calorific value. Moreover, the law requires manufacturers to provide coverage on parts in contact with ethanol, such as the engine, the pollutant emission post-treatment system, the tank or the fuel system. But in the event of a problem while the vehicle is still under warranty, the risk is that the car manufacturer and the manufacturer of the case will pass the buck. With possible long-term immobilization, while their respective experts render their verdict. Most motorists therefore prefer to play it safe and wait until the manufacturer’s warranty has expired to have a box installed.
Number of vehicles whose energy has been converted to E85 by age in the first quarter of 2022
| Number of enclosures | Market share | Evolution 2021/2022 | |
| Less than a year | 139 | 1.5% | +67.5% |
| From 1 year to 2 years | 247 | 2.7% | +77.7% |
| 2 to 5 years old | 3,096 | 33.6% | +282.2% |
| From 5 to 8 years old | 2,143 | 23.2% | + 376.2% |
| + 8 years | 3,595 | 39% | +507.3% |
Few brand surprises
The list of brands that are most often converted to E85 does not hold too many surprises either. The three French manufacturers indeed monopolize the podium, in a very classic order, with Renault ahead of Peugeot and Citroën. Subsidiary of the Losange, Dacia ranks fourth. It is rather behind that certain positions are more surprising, since it is necessary to go up to the eighth rank to find Volkswagen and to the ninth to flush out Toyota. These two heavyweights are thus overtaken by Ford, which is however the only one to offer a wide range compatible E85 in nine, or by Opel and Fiat. Buyers of premium brands do not seem to be interested in these ethanol boxes: Audi is only sixteenth, BMW eighteenth and Mercedes twenty-first, with very small volumes. As for Porsche owners, in the first quarter of 2022, only ten took the plunge… compared to zero in 2020 and 2021.
Top 20 brands on which the most boxes were installed in the first quarter of 2022
| Position | Brand | Number of enclosures | Market share | Evolution 2021/2022 |
| 1 | Renault | 1,562 | 16.9% | + 370.5% |
| 2 | Peugeot | 1,278 | 13.9% | + 334.7% |
| 3 | Citroen | 992 | 10.8% | +422.1% |
| 4 | Dacia | 746 | 8.1% | + 407.5% |
| 5 | Ford | 582 | 6.3% | + 424.3% |
| 6 | Vauxhall | 569 | 6.2% | + 321.5% |
| 7 | fiat | 567 | 6.1% | + 320% |
| 8 | volkswagen | 477 | 5.2% | + 256% |
| 9 | Toyota | 329 | 3.6% | +291.7% |
| 10 | Suzuki | 259 | 2.8% | +564.1% |
| 11 | Nissan | 226 | 2.5% | + 303.6% |
| 12 | seat | 157 | 1.7% | +554.2% |
| 13 | Kia | 153 | 1.7% | + 427.6% |
| 14 | hyundai | 146 | 1.6% | +421.4% |
| 15 | Mini | 145 | 1.6% | + 367.7% |
| 16 | Audi | 132 | 1.4% | + 355.2% |
| 17 | Skoda | 117 | 1.3% | + 225% |
| 18 | BMW | 99 | 1.1% | +280.8% |
| 19 | DS | 92 | 1% | +253.8% |
| 20 | Honda | 73 | 0.8% | + 135.5% |
TO READ. Bioethanol: the best-selling second-hand models in 2021
A majority of city dwellers
In this context, we will not be surprised to find that the models most often adapted to the E85 are also best-sellers on the French market. It is indeed the Renault Clio, long queen of new cars and still dominating second-hand cars, which is in first place, with 734 conversions. She is ahead of her cousin Dacia Sandero, while the Citroën C3 finishes third. The 208, the first Peugeot, ends for its part behind the Twingo, in fifth position, but remember that the city car at the Lion was born only ten years ago and has only two generations. It is therefore necessarily penalized in a market that gives pride of place to sometimes old vehicles.
The classification is in any case largely dominated by city cars, whether versatile or not. The first SUV, the Captur, is indeed only tenth, while the place of first compact sedan is occupied by a surprising Fiat Tipo, twelfth overall. The Italian is thus ahead of the Volkswagen Golf, which is much older and much more present on the second-hand market. But volumes remain low in both cases, with barely more than 100 boxes installed in three months throughout France for each of these two models.
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