If the law authorizes the installation of an ethanol conversion kit on vehicles of 15 CV and more since April 2021, the manufacturers had to follow a whole procedure to have their boxes approved. Biomotors is the first to achieve this for all types of injection.
To be able to offer an ethanol conversion kit on the market, there is a whole approval process to follow. But no need to redo it for each vehicle: French regulations have preferred to establish six major “families” of models according to the European anti-pollution standard, the fiscal power and the injection system. The Biomotors company prides itself on being the first to perform the “grand slam” by offering a box for each of these different types.
The novelty of this spring 2022 is the addition of vehicles of 15 HP and more with indirect injection meeting Euro 5 and 6 standards. We are therefore talking here rather about large displacement models that are not very widespread on the French market, such as the Nissan 370Z and Ford Mustang. It will have been necessary to wait for a decree published last March for these models of more than 15 HP to obtain the possibility of legally running on ethanol in France. Biomotors’ main competitor, Flexfuel Energy Development, is still being tested to add these vehicles in the coming weeks.
Strong increase in case sales
To distinguish itself from its competitor, which has just presented a new “intelligent” box, Biomotors notably highlights the presence of a fuel sensor as standard in its offer. It would make it possible to drive, without problem, with any proportion of ethanol in the tank. The company also offers a smartphone application linked via Bluetooth to its connected boxes. The direct injection engines produced before 2010, quite rare, remain however incompatible. Not to mention all those who do not meet at least the Euro 3 standard, which appeared in 2000. The regulations explicitly prohibit their conversion.
But that does not prevent Biomotors from announcing a growth of more than 186% in sales in March 2022 compared to March 2021, with more than 350 boxes sold per day, or approximately one every four minutes. Even if they cannot offer the same peace of mind as an adaptation carried out by the manufacturer, as at Ford, conversion kits have been very popular since the flight of fuel prices. A boom supported by the very advantageous taxation of E85 in France, which makes it more than half the price of unleaded or diesel.
TO READ. Everything you need to know about E85 ethanol: boxes, models, prices…
