Branson has to take 100-mile round-trip to fill up eco car

Virgin admitted today that the £ 33,000 car - a Saab 9 - 5 BioPower - was often filled with ordinary petrol rather than bioethanol fuel, made from sugar cane or other crops.

The car is symbolic of the airline boss's new search for environmentally friendly transport. He took delivery in November shortly after announcing that Virgin would invest £1.6 billion in renewable energy over the next 10 years.

Unfortunately for Virgin, the special bioethanol E85 fuel - a mixture of 85 per cent bioethanol and 15 per cent unleaded petrol - needed to run the car is not sold in London. The nearest outlet is a petrol station in Crowborough in East Sussex, a 100-mile roundtrip that takes over three hours. Instead the Saab is being filled up with unleaded petrol at forecourts close to Virgin's headquarters-in Notting Hill, where it is used as a pool car when Sir Richard is out of the country.

The Virgin boss will now write to London Mayor Ken Livingstone asking that bioethanol and other biofuel-run cars are made exempt from the congestion charge to encourage London petrol stations to sell the alternative fuel at their pumps. Morrisons, the supermarket chain and the only supplier of bioethanol E85 in Britain, has promised to convert more pumps if the Saabs, several hundred of which have now been sold here, are exempted from the charge - just as hybrid and electric- powered vehicles already are.

When run on bioethanol E85, Saab estimates it reduces carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 70 per cent. Virgin said that Sir Richard often fills it with bioethanol when he stays at his Oxfordshire estate. His nearest garage selling bioethanol is 50 miles away in Northamptonshire but the journey takes less than an hour.

Will Whitehorn, Virgin Group's Director of Corporate Affairs, told the Evening Standard: "This is what we are stuck with. Richard will be writing to Ken Livingstone asking him to look at making bioethanol exempt from the charge. He is already discussing with the Government the idea of importing ethanol from Brazil where it is made from sugar cane."

Saab is also lobbying the Mayor and Transport for London to review bioethanol's status. Should it become exempt, Saab could expect to see sales rocket.