Pat pointed out a fascinating article about some of the possible pitfalls of using alternative fuels.
So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost.
His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes.
He’s been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.
And to legally use veggie oil, state officials told him, he would have to first post a $2,500 bond.
This strikes me as an absolutely fascinating legal/public policy problem. On one hand, I think it’s without question good for people to experiment and innovate with alternative fuels, and a large tax burden would do much do discourage this. On the other hand, it’s pretty obvious that it’s important for the rule of law to stand and for appropriate taxes to be collected such that roads can be maintained.
At current, there’s no obvious and straightforward way to make this happen. Sure, one-off waivers can be granted to individuals, but does that scale? (That said, does it need to? Is the “we really should have good rules in place to regulate them appropriately” threshold one that you don’t reach until a technology is pretty well mainstream?) I’ll be interested to see what sort of legislation pops up around alternative fuel cars.
On a personal note, I think VegOil cars smell like ass. But that’s just me.