I’m just wondering how wood gas vehicles work with insurance companies and the police. I haven’t found much about it on the web and didn’t see anything on this forum.
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Excellent question:
In this day and age you can not be sure how gov or private interest groups will react to outside of the box thinking like woodgas.
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Hello Cia , welcome along , i would guess it would all depend on what country and county/ area you were from or what country you would want to drive in .
Dave
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My guess is it’s similar in the US and Canada. I’m in Canada. Hoping to hear how anyone driving these gets approval from insurance companies etc or any information on the topic.
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Better to ask forgiveness than permission, I say. Your car title probably lists the vehicle fuel - most likely “gas.” Hey, perfect, it is still running on “gas,” so no problems there, right?
It might get more complicated if your province requires the car to undergo inspection. I live close enough to the Portland metro area that we need to take all our cars in to pass DEQ every 2 years. It seems like mostly a formality, as I have never had a car fail. It might be brazen to waltz in there with a modified-fuel truck, but they might just shrug and stamp your papers. I seem to recall that Wayne took his truck in for emissions testing at one point, and passed with flying colors.
You could also leave the gas system intact, and design a system that can be completely torn down and reinstalled in a day. Either way, I hope you find a way to make it work!
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Terry_Lavictoire lives in northern Ontario and he got shut off by his insurance company and quit driving on wood.
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Yes, I pretty much found the information after searching under modified vehicles. You have to declare any modifications to your vehicle or your insurance could be voided. I’m sure this isn’t just Ontario. Some modifications can lower your rates, if they make your car safer or slower. Doing your own modifications can even lower rates because they assume you are invested in the vehicle and will tend to be more careful with it. My guess is that wood gas will be hard to insure and you could end up in a whole lot of trouble if you just go ahead with it and end up in an accident. I’ll probably stick to using wood gas on the homestead but might give the insurance company a call to find out.
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Maybe not. Not going to happen.
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“Discretion is the better part of valor.”
S.U.
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There is a few guys here that insure the on board wood burner as transport idom, from theft, or theft insurence, and seem too not be bothered. dont think the insurence ask if it was there for camping cook unit or on board fuel maker. Some feel better towing on a trailer, i suppose, and just use less ofton.I use mine at night out the back roads mostly.HERE I thought this was supposs too be goverment working FOR the people.And if thtf it wont matter about insurence.
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To me it’s just not worth the risks. I have 60 acres. I’ll probably work on some kind of wood gas tank for doing firewood if I want to use it on a vehicle. That or a tractor or an old 4 wheeler.
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the question reminds me to the basic difference between us and eu ( see it as a joke please )
In eu anything is forbidden unless explicit allowed
In us, anything is allowed unless explicit forbidden…
Over here, i am explicit asked for doing things what can be done… ( running engines on anything i can lay my hands on… )
Biggest upcoming joke ? Been asked if i can gasify residue from CBD feedstock…
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With Canada it seems in it’s own situation quasi in between these extremes.
Actually here US Koen it is much more a truly Rural versus Urban areas with what you can get away with Doing versus never, ever, not doing.
Wood stoveing as an example.
S.U.
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Hello Cai R.
Read and watch here on the DOW any of the projects doing vehicle stealth charcoal on board fueling.
THAT works.
Non-liquefying compressed wood gas would get you to the end of a long driveway and back.
Steve unruh
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I know you can run dual fuel, propane with no issues or straight propane or NG. Never heard of restrictions on Hydrogen If you could afford it. You can have a roots blower sticking out of your hood or all manner of piping for a turbo. I not sure if you went in for an inspection they would even know what they were looking at. We don’t have emissions inspections in the part of the state I live in but when I was down state I only remember them sticking a probe in the tailpipe. I think SteveU suggestion about stealth charcoal would work about anywhere. Get a copy of the Ben Peterson book with the charcoal unit in the trunk of a Mustang. a unit could easily be hidden in a tool box of a truck. No one would look twice.
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Ha! Legally convert and register as a propane pickup truck.
THEN hide the charcoal gasifier system INSIDE the a large across bed saddle mounted propane tank.
S.U.
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Ha! Rig the pickup bed on hinges, so you can lift it up like a dump truck. Then put a charcoal gasifier a la KristijanL MBZ e230 in place of the fuel tank, or reroute the exhaust inside the rails and put the gasifier on that side.
Rindert
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Okay Steve, now you are getting real stealthy here. I can see you doing this your self, may be on one of your trucks. Hah!
My new build will be a stealthy build too.
Bob The Builder. Oh I mean Stealthy Builder.
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Wasn’t it Calvin Rader in Saskatchewan who had a wood gas S10? It probably varies province by province, and especially if you have emissions inspections, vehicle integrity inspections. Here in Manitoba I don’t think it’s an issue with our sole public auto insurance. Maybe Saskatchewan is the same. Private insurance companies sounds like a pain.
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I would like Jakob or Billy North to get into this conversation they have had first hand experience dealing with an insurance after an accident i know it was primary the other persons insurance but i am sure theirs was involved some, was there any questions ask and so on.
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