A grand procession of 40 cars and 10 motorcycles drove from Jakarta to Cirebon to Bandung and back -- 578 kilometers all up -- last week to test just how well vehicles could run on vegetables.

Dozens of international car manufacturers took part in the road trip, organized by the State Ministry for the Environment to introduce bio-ethanol fuel to Indonesia.

Ethanol is produced from sugar cane, corn, sugar beets or wheat. The substance is then blended with premium gasoline to make bio-ethanol, which state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is selling under the "bio-premium" label.

No bio-premium fuel was available on the route the procession traveled, so 3,000 liters of five percent ethanol blended in gasoline, known as E5, was brought along.

All the participants said the fuel fit with their engines' specifications and there had been no need for modifications.

Ford, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai, Peugot, Mitsubishi Motor, Kia Motor, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Kymko and Kanzen were among the companies that took part in the event.

Private cars that took part in the road trip were decorated with stickers indicating that they were running on bio-ethanol, although the motorcycles were not identified in the same manner.

An official said that initially only Ford committed to participating in the event.

"However, as the deadline got nearer, more automakers then sent their teams and cars to the road show," the official, who declined to be named, told The Jakarta Post.

PT Honda Prospect Motor said that the company was committed to developing environmentally friendly cars.

"We are participating in this road show to support the development of alternative fuels. Honda's VTec and Jazz VTEC, which have joined the event, are ready to use bio-premium," Jonfis Fandy, the company's general manager for sales and marketing, told reporters at the start of the trip.

However, Tatang Soerawidjaja, head of natural resources research at the Bandung Institute of Technology said that the government needed to set standards for bio-ethanol.

"Indonesia still refers to the United States' standards, so the government must issue its own standards to make the use of bio-ethanol national policy," he told participants who visited his laboratory.

To the surprise of many present, Tatang said that test-driving new bio-fuels was not enough to claim that the fuel would be applicable in the long term.

"There must be comprehensive research before promoting it to the public," he said, adding that the vehicles needed to be driven tens of thousands of kilometers before being checked for the fuel's effects.

Ridwan Tamin, the ministry's assistant deputy for vehicle emissions, said the road trip was aimed at boosting public awareness of alternative fuels.

"We want the public and local administrations to know about alternative fuels, including bio-premium," he said after briefing Cirebon administration staff on the topic.

Ridwan said Indonesia had the potential to become one of the world's biggest ethanol producers because the country had an abundance of the raw materials required and vast areas in which to grow them.

The use of bio-ethanol is part of alternative energy options being promoted by the government to replace the use of fossil-based fuels and reduce air pollution in the country.

Experts believe increasing the consumption of bio-fuel would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions mainly produced by fossil fuels.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a presidential instruction and a presidential regulation to intensify efforts to increase the use of bio fuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel.

Bio-diesel itself is made from vegetable oil processed from soy, palm and coconut, Jatropha and other oil seed crops as petrol-diesel additive.

The government has said that by 2010, bio-ethanol is expected account for 10 percent of the country's premium fuel usage.

It said that a 10 percent substitution in the consumption of fuel oil could reduce to 2.25 kilo liters -- worth US$1.35 billion -- the country's annual premium fuel imports.

Gusnida, a Pertamina product development representative, told the road show in Cirebon that the company was facing a shortage of the raw material supplies needed to produce bio-premium.

"So far, we are only selling bio-premium at Rp 4,500 per liter in a gas station in Surabaya," she said. The price is similar to that of premium.

She said that besides the materials shortage, the price of bio-ethanol needed to be higher than that of premium gasoline because its manufacturing process was more complex.

She predicted that by the year 2010, the company would produce 5 million kiloliters of bio-premium annually, most of which would be sold on Java.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20060914.D05&irec=4