The announcement comes following the revelation that Volvo’s engineers had found a natural source of carbonated - or ‘sparkling’ - diesel in the far north of Sweden.
“We were able to access the sparkling diesel under the terms of our EU urea extraction licence,” explains Roni Bårkersson, from the alternative fuel programme headquarters on Gasgata, Gothenburg.
“We initially ran some trucks on cold weather testing with reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland for five years,” he continues.
“However, we found that it was unsuitable as a truck fuel because its cold filter plugging point ... was so high that, at room temperature, each litre of sparkling diesel produced enough wax to make four candles.”
In addition, the Sami herders found that, in terms of economy, the finished product was too dear to be viable, he adds.
Fortunately, says Bårkersson, Volvo’s engineers also discovered a significant deposit of ‘still’ diesel in rocks lying alongside those holding the ‘sparkling’ variety.
“Trials of the ‘still’ diesel produced some sparkling results and so, after due consultation with our alternative fuel and biogas partners, Trump & D’Nye, we have decided that traditional diesel is still our first fuel of choice,” he says.
PM postscript: April Fool!