E85 off to slow start in face of limited number of FFVs

PTT Plc has become the first oil company in Asia to sell E85, but the 85% ethanol blended fuel will hardly be a money-maker for the first few months. In fact, the only customers for E85 will be car companies testing their imported flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) and the handful of drivers who have purchased them to date.

Those drivers who do fill up at the one PTT station carrying the fuel, near the entrance to the Bang Na-Trat expressway, will be getting quite a bargain. At 20.19 baht a litre, E85 costs 48% less than premium petrol, 30% less than gasohol 95 and 27% less than gasohol E20.

The retail price will be reviewed next week by the National Energy Policy Council, which will also set the levy paid to the state Oil Fund as well as the subsidy programme.

Prasert Bunsumpun, the PTT chief executive and president, said five FFVs were part of the test run, including the Volvo S40 and C30 and the Chevrolet Impala LT from General Motors.

''We plan to step forward to encourage automobile manufacturers to produce FFV cars here in parallel with the government's alternative fuel promotion,'' he said.

PTT plans to open E85 pumps at 14 stations by the end of this year and its subsidiary, Bangchak Petroleum, will launch E85 in October at 14 of its service stations.