White Van Man move over, Green Van Man is new image for the nation’s Ford Transit van drivers after it was announced that the vehicles can now run on recycled vegetable oil.

The Ford motor company announced this week that vehicles fitted with their new 2.0-litre EcoBlue engines can now run on hydrogenated vegetable oil, and executives at the motor giant are actually encouraging drivers to use the alternative fuel over diesel.

The greener ‘biodiesel’ is more eco-friendly producing 90 per cent less greenhouse gases than regular diesel and the fuel is readily available, using waste cooking oil which is available from restaurants, caterers, schools and even home kitchens.

McDonalds and other large fleet operators in the UK have proudly boasted that their lorries have been run on vegetable fat, but van drivers in this country may have to wait some time before they can take advantage of the greener fuel. HVO is widely available in Scandinavia and other northern European countries, but is not freely available on British petrol station forecourts and where it is available it is up to five pence per litre more expensive than standard fuels.

“Enabling our vans to run on fuel made from waste, including used cooking oil, may sound far-fetched but using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil is, in fact, a very real way in which Transit drivers and fleet operators will soon be able to help everybody enjoy improved air quality,” says Hans Schep, general manager of commercial vehicles at Ford, Europe.

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