France: faced with rising prices at the pump, ethanol is on the rise
Audio 01:20
A customer puts fuel in his car at a gas pump in Paris.
(File image).
AFP - BENJAMIN CREMEL
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The price of fuel, added to rising inflation, has never been higher.
And even if Total has decided to increase its rebate at the pump to 20 cents per liter after the summer in all its service stations, then to 10 cents until the end of the year, the prices do not seem ready to return to their usual level.
Motorists are therefore turning to ethanol, an alternative half the price.
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Vehicle reprogramming requests are soaring at the garage right now.
“
I went from maybe ten calls a week to 40 calls a day.
»
So many services performed in stride for David Soublin.
In his garage located in Île-de-France, he installs boxes on cars, no bigger than notepads:
"
It's a very small box.
Everyone expects it to be very big, but it's very small.
It's like, let's say, a motherboard inside, like a program, which we'll plug into the vehicle and which will update the engine computer.
This will allow the vehicle to run on ethanol.
»
"
The demand could not calm down"
In the midst of soaring fuel prices, it is difficult to get your hands on this converter.
“
There was a delay.
After a while, it was three or four months.
There it was back to normal.
All the suppliers have reinforced their team because they saw that there was a demand and that the demand could not calm down, in quotes, there are always so many
.
»
It takes between 800 and 1,200 euros for the break.
More than half can now be financed with state aid depending on the region.
“
All the people who have a box, they're in heaven, they're happy to go and put some gas
.
»
Nearly 48,000 units installed in four months
82 cents at the pump.
On his motorcycle, Sébastien Bossard will not say the opposite, he takes out of his pocket “
15 euros, a full tank.
While in essence, I would have had for forty euros.
Holy difference.
We are going to lose 80 kilometers in terms of autonomy, on the other hand, at the end of the year, at the end of the month, that's a good little nest egg
.
»
Almost all petrol models can be converted.
Between January and May, 48,000 boxes were installed.
Ethanol is less expensive, but its climate impact is still controversial, especially when it is of organic origin, from a field of beets or corn.
Some observers believe that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with these crops should be taken into account.
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To read also:
Bioethanol seduces French motorists
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