The Bio-Fleet Project






The Bio-Fleet Project has now finished its second phase, completing the funded conversions of business vehicles.  We have now created a user base of approximately fifty business vehicles running on a truly sustainable fuel and established a local fuel supply.  We have demonstrated a viable, replicable green transport model for the rest of the UK.

We received funding to cover from 25% - 50% of the cost of conversion for business vehicles in the south east that met certain criteria. Vehicles had to be in heavy use and suitable for conversion, and prepared to be high visibility.

In Germany, there are tens of thousands of diesel vehicles converted to run on rapeseed oil, often refered to as straight vegetable oil (SVO) or pure plant oil (PPO).  Hundreds of companies have been formed in response to the demand for vehicle conversions. 

There are over six hundred locally run seed presses producing fuel.  In 2003 thirty million litres of rapeseed oil was sold for fuel .  Locally grown cold pressed plant oil has a much lower environmental impact than the majority of vegetable oils in the marketplace.



Last year the UK exported 280,000 tonnes of rape seed that would of yielded well over 90 million litres of locally grown fuel if the PPO model was adopted. If the set aside land of the UK was utilised to grow rape seed for PPO usage we would be able to meet our national 5% biofuel target solely with UK grown crops - this is at odds with current proposals which are directly leading to the mass destruction of millions of acres of natural habitat across the developing world.

Bio-Fleet is an inspiring opportunity to demonstrate a viable green transport solution in the U.K., which has already been widely demonstrated in many other EU states.  Bio-Fleet is a powerful statement about fuel usage in the 21st century and could act as a significant catalyst for positive social and environmental change.

The Bio-Fleet project will run over four years 2005 - 2009.  The last two years of the project will now see Blooming Futures concentrating on mechanical training, technical support, education and outreach.  Dissemination of the project is vital to the replication of the model for the rest of the UK, and is in line with Blooming Futures overarching aim of tackling climate change through community-scale fuel production.

The Bio-Fleet project has four distinct annual phases beginning in 2005:

The Bio-Fleet is backed by DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under the Environmental Action Fund and the Network for Social Change.