Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Part One: Introduction to VegOil

Cynthia Shelton: The price of gasoline has become a daily numbers game like the lottery, the stock market, or the death toll in Iraq. The question is no longer what if we run out of gasoline, but when will we run out of gasoline?

The exact date when we go cold turkey has not been established. Guesses go from 20 years from now, to 100 years from now, but all agree we will run out. There’s talk of alternative fuel options. The ones getting the most promotion include hydrogen cells, ethanol, and BioDiesel.

Hydrogen may be the most common element in the universe, but driving your car using it as a fuel is at least twenty years down the road by all accounts. Not very helpful now. Ethanol is an alcohol -based chemical, that alarmingly, can be imbibed, used as a solvent, as an antifreeze, or as a component in explosives, depending on how it is produced.

I had heard about BioDiesel about five years ago from a friend, who made the stuff for his tractor and bus. BioDiesel sounded good. It’s vegetable oil thinned chemically to remove the fatty glycerin, and is often blended with straight diesel. The exhaust smells like whatever food had been cooking in the oil, and emissions are less harmful than straight Diesel.

But I’m no chemist and I couldn’t see cooking up batches of volatile fuel in the basement of my rental apartment. So when I heard about using straight vegetable oil for fuel in diesel cars, I got excited. No science experiments, just settle, filter, pour and heat. Nontoxic, safe as houses, and cheaper than petroleum.

After my last car failed inspection I didn’t have the heart, or the money, to make the needed repairs. My 91 Plymouth Colt lemon, despite undeniable cuteness, had to go. The next car, I vowed, would have resale value, and, would drive on VegOil.

In year-round warm climates like Hawaii or parts of California it is possible to use VegOil alone in a one-tank system, but in the frozen Northeast where I live, two tanks are needed. One to hold diesel that starts and warms the car, and the other to hold straight VegOil to drive on. The only way to get the syrupy VegOil to travel through the pinprick hole in the injectors is to heat it. If you’ve ever fried food at home you have seen how Hot-Oil gets thin and watery.

Putting together the system of hoses, heating elements, valves, and electronics to use VegOil was, until very recently, something that only renegade environmentalists and wacky inventor mechanics would try. About five years ago the first VegOil conversion kit makers began to sell their products to the public. Only in the last year or so have those products become appropriate for non-mechanics such as myself to install and use.

I decided to see how user friendly VegOil really is by buying a diesel car, installing a VegOil kit, and driving it across country - in themiddle of winter. After several months of researching every web site and forum about VegOil on the internet, and car hunting too, I fell in love with a burgundy 1973 Mercedes Benz 220D in Sacramento CA for under $2000. It’s an elegant ride. Rust free, standard transmission, and those neat little triangle windows. The curvaceous frame once carried taxi fares and diplomats.

The modification took two weeks. A mechanic friend kindly agreed to help install the kit with me. I hear it’s possible to get the work done in as little as three days, but this was our first installation and the kit didn’t turn out to be a kit. To me, a kit comes in a box with all of the parts included and labeled, with instructions in several languages. What I got was more like a sketchy recipe, and a few of the main ingredients - for about 800 dollars. It got more expensive when I added the parts not provided.

The ingredients of any 2-tank modification will include an auxiliary tank to hold the VegOil, a valve to switch between the main and auxiliary tanks, a filter, fuel hoses, fittings and clamps, and some heating elements. It is possible to assemble a modification kit of your own from off-the-shelf hardware and auto supply products for a fraction of the cost. And the internet is rapidly becoming crowded with web forums, support networks, information sites and personal road trip sagas about VegOil. Like mine.

In fact, without the internet, the rapidly growing industry of VegOil fuel would not be possible. The last surge of interest in VegOil in the 70’s faded out with the return of cheap gas to the market. The momentum was lost. Now, with the internet, the exchange of information is instant and voluminous. Chances are, someone out there will know the fix to your VegOil problem, and know where to get whatever parts you need. The enthusiasm is contagious. The technology is simple and it works. This first group of mainstream VegOil drivers have become Ambassadors of VegOil by default. Compelled to talk to strangers in parking lots and at car shows. I know, it happened to me. That’s the conversion part of the story.

VegOil is not the only good alternative fuel option, but for some people it is the right one. Unfortunately Diesel is still necessary for start up and shut down, but when the bulk of the trip is fueled by VegOil, one tank of Diesel can last for a long time.

Tune in tomorrow to hear what happens when you run out of VegOil fuel during a road trip, and a visit with Ray Holan, author of Sliding Home, the definitive guide to driving VegOil.

Links to more information about VegOil can be found at KUNM.org I’m Cynthia Shelton.