How much for Biofuels?

Remember in "Yes, Minister" when Sir Humphrey or some other civil servant wanted to hide embarassing or unpopular information they would insert it well into a document that they knew Jim Hacker would probably not read and bury it almost at the bottom of his 'red box'.

So, when I went through David Parker's press release on introducing Biofuels I found that no mention was made of the need to replace the fuel filters in older vehicles.

You have to go through the 14 paragraph press release and then 11 more paragraphs in the questions and answers section to find the first mention of it. And it's couched in terms like "would normally not exhibit any problems" and "most modern vehicles are compatible".

To find the details of the estimated cost of upgrading fuel systems for cars that do 'exhibit any problems' are not 'compatible' you then have to go through 12 pages of technical discussion on whether vehicles can comply and then you find:

"The estimated cost of this replacement is $600-$800."

And how does this report define what vehicles are compatible?

It uses only Japanese vehicle manufacturers for reference - not the Australian companies (Ford are the biggest selling new car brand and Holden sell the most popular model of car) - and you find out that while Toyota and Honda say most cars built from the mid-80s are fine, Mitsubishi vehicles that are just over one year old and Nissan over three years old are not compatable for blended fuels.

It then uses overseas information for the remaining brands - right after saying overseas models may be different to New Zealand models.

Finally, there is a table (copy below) which stated potentially half the vehicles in New Zealand - 1.4 million of them - could require upgrading or replacement to use Biofuels!

Sir Humphrey would be proud of you, David!