Want to run your car on free Fryer oil?

I have been amazed by the growth recently of “greasecars”. Basically a diesel auto that has been modified to run on Waste Vegitable Oil straight out of the fryer. What you need is a separate tank to heat the grease (since it congeals) and some flushing equipment to switch back over to regular diesel for starting in cold. Now you could process this into Biodiesel like my favorite ecorebel BioLyle, but that is a messy and dangerous endeavor.

For those who don’t mind pumping grease out of the back of a chinese restraunt, but don’t want to turn their garages into a chemistry lab, you can get people to put kits on your car. Here in Seattle there are a couple of people who do it including The Green Car Company LLC (Kirkland) and Goodwin Motorsports (Capital Hill) or Grease4Fuel. You can buy a pre-manufactured kit from Greasel or the granddaddy of the business GreaseCar or many of the installers have their own custom manufactured kits or modifications (like Goodwin beleives he has a better mousetrap).

In the last couple of months I have met dozens of people who have not paid for fuel in years. They just pull up to McDonalds and fill’er up. This is truly the American spirit of adapt, overcome, and succeed. Not for everyone, but I am keeping my eye on this area as the technology becomes easier to install and the grease becomes easier to get (look for filtered grease pumps in Seattle soon). I would expect the price of filtered, processed grease to be about $.75 per gallon at retail. Low enough to be compelling for the convenience factor.