Vintage Car: Prince Charles's Aston Martin DB6 Fueled by Wine

Date posted: 07-02-2008

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LONDON — Prince Charles, whose passion for environmental advocacy has been common knowledge at least as long as Al Gore's, has taken a very public step to reduce his royal carbon footprint. The prince has had his 1970 Aston Martin DB6 converted to run on bioethanol — which is patriotically made from surplus wine from a Wiltshire, England, vineyard.

The Daily Mail newspaper, which ordinarily delights in publishing more sordid royal tidbits, praised the prince for his "small but symbolic" gesture. The royal received the car as a 21st-birthday gift from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, the paper reported. Charles only drives the vehicle some 300 miles per year, but it also averages 10 mpg. Now those gallons are the green kind, bioethanol from biofuel company Green Fuels, which sources it from good old British grapes.

Green Fuels is an established biofuel company that produces commercial biodiesel and also sells home-brewing equipment. The company has converted the very British Range Rover, Lotus Elise and other cars to biofuel. Last September, Prince Charles was the first U.K. passenger on a 100 percent biodiesel-fueled train as the Royal Train made an overnight trip of some 900 miles with the prince onboard and the Green Fuels product in the tank.

What this means to you: One small step for a prince, and one giant leap for biofuel from the publicity he generates. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent