An open letter from Jon Walden, boss of Britain’s biggest contract hire company, on the cost of diesel fuel. From this week, every litre of fuel pumped into vehicles on British roads will have to contain 2.5% per cent of biofuels under the Government’s new green fuels legislation.
But why is UK fuel so expensive, and in particular, diesel?
Twenty years ago diesel fuel prices were cheaper than petrol in the UK. But now according to fuel price statistics, apart from Norway (L1.23p per litre), we have the highest average price (L1.15 per litre) across Europe.
Diesel engines are 15-25% more fuel efficient than an equivalent petrol engine. There is a direct correlation between reducing fuel use and reducing CO2.
CO2 emission reduction is very high on the Government’s agenda so why keep penalising the diesel driver?
Lex runs over 250,000 vehicles on behalf of over 30,000 companies and 70% of drivers we supply a new car to annually now choose diesel.
Figures from the contract hire industry in general suggest a similar take up of diesel, reinforcing the company fleet market which buys roughly one million new cars each year is playing a significant part in reducing its fossil fuel use.
Based on this type of recognition and the fact that emission free hydrogen engines are realistically still 15-20 years away before they possibly go into full scale production, surely the Government should close the 8p per litre gap between petrol and diesel immediately – and not by putting up the price of petrol!
The fuel price differential
- Cost of petrol 107.2 p/litre
- Cost of diesel 115.6 p/litre
- Source: AA.com
