Tired of premium? These cars tank up on vegetable oil

When Josh Tickell drives his 1971 Datsun 240Z, powered by a straight six-diesel engine, he gets 44 miles to the gallon. He also gets disbelieving stares from everyone else on the road. The bright-red hot rod, with flames shooting out of a dandelion-rimmed globe on the hood, proclaims in fiery yellow letters: "Powered by vegetable oil."

Electric and hybrid cars may be getting more attention from the car-buying public, but in the past year the number of biodiesel fueling stations jumped nearly 50 percent. Even Click and Clack, NPR's wise-cracking car guys, dedicate a page on their website to the fuel's benefits.

At a time when the ups and downs of gas prices are front-page news, autos that can run on soybean oil - even after it's been used to cook French fries - are getting a fresh look. The concept isn't new, and the price isn't quite right (still a bit higher than gasoline). But America's new awareness of its fossil-fuel vulnerability is at least raising the question of whether people like Mr. Tickell are visionaries - not just garage-bound tinkerers.

"I think we're on the verge of an American energy revolution," Tickell says. "Previous generations have been steeped in black oil. That was the answer. That was prosperity. It made America powerful. Our generation is steeped in the idea that oil equals war. Clean energy to us is sexy."

Tickell - author of "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank" - may be unusually passionate about the source of his fuel, but his clarion call to buy homegrown oil is drawing a chorus of biodiesel enthusiasts.

"Every one of us in America will at some point get in a car," he continues. "Who out of all those people can say they have used a fuel that's grown in this country, that's putting money back into their pockets and advancing civilization?"

But how many wrongs can vegetable oil right? Fans of biodiesel hype its cleanliness and point out that every car smelling of popcorn is one less using foreign oil. Even President Bush said in April: "Biodiesel makes a lot of sense."

Making the idea a reality, however, is something else. While supporters note the industry's growth since the late '90s, they say the fuel can never be truly popular while it costs more than petroleum, the standard fuel for diesel engines.

"It's obvious that the product works," says Ron Heck, president of the American Soybean Association and a supporter of biodiesel - which could be a boon for farmers. "You don't get that kind of market acceptance [of a costlier product] unless everything is going great."

Biodiesel debuted a century ago. When Rudolph Diesel unveiled the diesel engine at the Paris Exhibition in the early 1900s, it ran on peanut oil. "The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and will help considerably in the development of the agriculture of the countries which use it," he declared.

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