Volkswagen not yet planning to support higher biodiesel concentrations

Back in 2007, when Volkswagen was kicking off its Dieselution tour, we asked VW of America CEO Stefan Jacoby about official support for biodiesel concentrations higher than five percent. At the time there was no national standard for B20 biodiesel blends and Volkswagen would not provide warranty coverage for engines that used higher concentrations. However, Jacoby indicated that once a fuel standard was in place, the company would revisit the issue. Last June, a B20 standard was finalized, and it goes into effect in October. During the Jetta TDI drive last week, ABG asked about B20 use in the new car and VW communications director Steve Keyes responded that VW was not yet prepared to support B20 use. The new standard is primarily targeted at commercial fuels and supported fuels are still not widely available. There are concerns that the higher bio concentrations will result in excessive ash build-up in the particulate filter and other issues. Mercedes gave ABG a similar response in June when we drove the BlueTec diesel SUVs. Both companies will continue monitoring the fuel situation and the situation may change in the future.

Apparently, this hasn't stopped the proprietor of DieselGreen fuels in Austin TX. Jason Burroughs has just bought a brand new 2009 Jetta that he is running on B100. Burroughs is documenting his experience with the pure biofuel manufactured by New Energy Fuels of Houston on the TDIClub Forums. So far he hasn't had any issues, but plans to regularly test the condition of the engine oil and post updates on his progress. For those planning to buy a new Jetta or any other diesel vehicle, we don't recommend following this path while your vehicle is still under warranty. If you get some bad fuel, you could be out many thousands of dollars. However, if you are doing this let us know how things are progressing, because biodiesel has a great deal of potential.

[Sources: TDIClub Forum, DieselGreen]