Fuel Proof News

Following years of consistent growth, Fuel Proof®, Britain’s leading fuel tank manufacturer, is now extending its presence into the USA with the first transatlantic shipments of its US-variant Fuelcube bunded steel diesel tanks.

Specifically adapted for North America, the UL-Approved 250 Gallon Fuelcube is already making its way into Texas, Kansas and Florida for use in the agricultural and construction sectors – with more shipments on the way from Fuel Proof’s British factory to their new base in Kansas City, MO.

Available with 12/24V and hand pump diesel dispensing kits, the Fuelcube tank is Fuel Proof’s most popular product – with hundreds in progress and out on delivery from their Lancashire manufacturing facility at any one time. The company’s signature fuel tanks are jointly constructed by a team of expert welders and three robot welding arms in order to handle consumer demand.

Now adapted to the US market with full UL 142 Certification, the 250 Gallon Fuelcube combines the best of British engineering and manufacturing standards into a 110% bunded fuel storage and delivery system which is compact, stackable, easy to move and easy to use. But first and foremost, the all-steel Fuelcube is designed to be secure.

“In every sector, from agriculture to aviation, fuel security is our customers’ top priority,” says Andrew Hargreaves, Fuel Proof MD. “Flow rates and compliance with regulations are crucial to any organisation running fuelling operations on-site, but above all else people need a guarantee that their fuel is safe. Safe from any would-be thieves trying to access the fuel tank, and safe from any legal and environmental issues if that tank sustains any damage during its everyday service. Combine that need for security with total ease-of-use, for as many end-users as there are industry sectors, and the answer is the Fuelcube system. It’s been a constant bestseller across the UK and Europe for many years, and now I’m proud to say that Fuel Proof, and the Fuelcube, are coming to America.”

Reflecting its 23-year path to success in the UK and overseas, the company now has its sights set firmly on the United States’ vast agricultural sector. With over two million farms in operation across the USA, American agriculture represents an immense opportunity for any manufacturer willing to put customer, and quality, first.

“Certainly, we’re up against plenty of competition in terms of supplying fuel storage solutions to the US. But when it really comes down to product quality and manufacturing expertise, the Fuelcube has a distinct advantage. Our competitors focus on output quantity, while we’ve always kept our eye firmly on product quality.”

It’s this focus on quality which is behind Fuel Proof’s ongoing success and expansion, since it was first formed in 2000 in Settle, North Yorkshire – growing from a fuel tank hire company servicing customers in the North West of England, into a global exporter of industry-leading fuel tanks and aviation refuelling systems.
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The company’s 25,000 sq. ft. assembly and warehouse facility in Heysham, England is currently undergoing major expansion work, with not one but two construction sites now set to massively expand the manufacturer’s fabrication, shot-blasting and polyurethane paint-coating capabilities.

But the company isn’t only expanding production space to increase output on its existing products.

“We’re entering into an exciting new phase for Fuel Proof, with solar power now playing a major role. While our 250-gallon Fuelcubes are heading out to the United States, we’ve also further developed our European Fuelcubes to incorporate a new solar charging system, powering the tank’s 12/24V fuel dispensing pump via a built-in battery, for self-powered fuel dispensing that truly is foolproof. Added to our new Solar Fuelcubes, further solar storage products are now through the design phase and entering into production.

Going forward, Fuel Proof is expanding beyond just fuel storage, into energy storage more broadly – and not only in the UK and Europe, but with our sights set on the USA and around the globe.”
 
To find out more about the full Fuel Proof range, or to enquire about a specific storage product, please contact (816) 921 7441 or [email protected] in the USA, or alternatively contact +44 (0)1524 850 685 or [email protected] in the UK and overseas.

Fuel Proof has had a phenomenal 2022, and it's all thanks to you – our customers, distributors, partners and subscribers. From all of us here at Fuel Proof, allow us to say a massive thank you for your business this year – and wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2023!

​Please note that we close for Christmas on Friday 23rd December, 2022.
We are open again from Tuesday 3rd January, 2023.

If in the meantime you would like to enquire about our fuel tanks or fuel storage products, please click here to leave us your message, and we will respond as soon as we can once we return.

So until 2023, we wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a fantastic New Year!

Last month we invited the fifty-strong Vale O’ Lune Young Farmers' Club on a guided tour of the Fuel Proof design and manufacturing facility, demonstrating the full range of production processes involved in turning sheet steel and laser-cut components into our market-leading fuel tanks and bowsers.

Win this Fuel Proof® Fuelcube bunded diesel tank worth £3,000 – with all proceeds going to help fund our charity partner Bay Search and Rescue, and their lifesaving work across our local Morecambe Bay in the UK.

Tickets are just £5 each from Raffall.com, with the winner announced as soon as we reach 700 tickets sold!

Winner please be aware that you'll need to arrange your own collection of this Fuelcube from Bay Search and Rescue in Flookburgh, Grange-over-Sands – but a pristine £3,000 bunded diesel tank for a £5 ticket is a total steal! :)

Simply click this link or the picture below to enter our online raffle at Raffall.com – and good luck! 

From 1 April 2022, changes to UK law mean that many people and businesses who use red diesel (AKA rebated fuel; gas oil; tractor diesel) will need to switch to more costly white diesel, which carries the full Fuel Duty rate.

Most UK vehicles and machinery will no longer be able to use rebated red diesel, especially in the commercial sector. From 1 April it becomes illegal to put red diesel into any tank, vehicle or machine not covered by the new rules.
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The switch to white diesel will increase fuel costs by about 47p per litre for many businesses and organisations across the country. This new ruling could have wide-reaching effects, as businesses pass increased fuel costs on to consumers.

From the 1st April the use and storage of red diesel in vehicles, machinery and fuel tanks will be further restricted to operations such as farming and forestry, in line with new rules set out by the UK government. 

Briefly, red diesel will still be legal for use in agriculture, fish farming, forestry and horticulture; non-commercial heating and power generation; rail transport, marine transport, boating and sailing; circuses and other travelling fairs; and sports clubs including golf courses. For a more detailed list, please see below.

From the 1st April, many businesses across the UK – ranging from construction and plant hire to recycling operations – will have a legal duty to switch to the use of white diesel immediately, or could face heavy fines.

Red diesel itself isn’t being scrapped or price-hiked. It will just be legally prohibited for use by most of those businesses which used it previously, especially in the commercial sector.

​This change to the red diesel rules is part of the Government’s 2050 net-zero decarbonisation plan. It’s aimed to encourage the wider use of white diesel and greener fuels by the commercial sector, especially in mining, quarrying, construction, plant, logistics, leisure and highway maintenance.

The UK government has set out the following on the use of red diesel and rebated biofuels, restricting entitlement “to the following qualifying purposes”:

• “For vehicles and machinery used in agriculture, horticulture, fish farming and forestry. This includes allowing vehicles used for agriculture to be used for cutting verges and hedges, snow clearance and gritting roads

• To propel passenger, freight or maintenance vehicles designed to run on rail tracks

• For heating and electricity generation in non-commercial premises – this includes the heating of homes and buildings such as places of worship, hospitals and town halls; off-grid power generation; and non-propulsion uses on permanently-moored houseboats

• For maintaining community amateur sports clubs as well as golf courses (including activities such as ground maintenance, and the heating and lighting of clubhouses, changing rooms etc.)

• As fuel for all marine craft refuelling and operating in the UK (including fishing and water freight industries), except for propelling private pleasure craft in Northern Ireland

• For powering the machinery (including caravans) of travelling fairs and circuses”.

Even then, there are particular rules on how red diesel can be used in these approved areas. For more info please refer to Government guidance via the link below.

These rules will also extend fuel duty to “biodiesel, bioblends and fuel substitutes used in heating, applying the rebated duty rate to non-commercial heating and the full rate of duty to commercial heating.” (Source: gov.uk)

Until now, the law regarding red diesel usage set out in the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 (HODA) has included references to ‘road vehicles’. But from 1st April 2022, references to ‘road vehicles’ in this legislation will change to the term ‘excepted machines’. These ‘exceptions’ to the new red diesel rules, and the purposes that red diesel is used for, have been strictly redefined in law.

Currently around 15% of all diesel used in the UK is rebated red diesel. After the 1st April this percentage will drop significantly, and anyone caught using red diesel without entitlement could face significant fines, vehicle seizure, or even unlimited fines and imprisonment – since the unentitled use of rebated red diesel is technically considered tax evasion.

​Yes. These changes affect the use of rebated red diesel, HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), bioblend, biodiesel and fuel substitutes.

If your operation doesn’t fall into one of the excepted categories detailed above, then you have a legal responsibility to make the switch to white diesel from 1st April 2022. To be compliant with these changes you will need to:
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1. Run down your remaining stock of red diesel fuel.
2. Uplift any red diesel and flush the fuel lines that carried it.
3. Clean and inspect your fuel tanks to avoid contaminating new fuel.

“Contamination” in this respect refers to any presence of red diesel marker dye. The authorities test for this distinctive red dye to catch out anyone using tax-rebated red diesel illegally, and could well inflict heavy fines to enforce the new diesel rules.

• Increased fuel cost.
  White diesel fuel is more expensive than rebated red diesel, meaning an increase in your average fuel expenditure of around 47p per litre at the time of writing. Many business owners are now being forced to be more strategic in their daily use of diesel fuel, with fuel costs for large-scale operations increasing by thousands of pounds as a result of the change.

 

• Increased fuel security.
  White diesel also needs to be kept more secure than red diesel, and especially now as demand for it increases widely. The higher value of white diesel fuel, and now its wider applications across an increasing number of industries, mean that it carries with it the need to be very securely stored – and those fuel pumps closely monitored.

 

• Increased use of fuel management technology.
  The best way to secure white diesel and monitor its usage is with a remote fuel management system, installed at the point of dispensing. This remote system means that fuel cannot be dispensed without the use of a secure key or app licence, and so every drop of your fuel can be accounted for. Combined with a lockable all-steel bunded fuel tank, built to a structurally stronger cylindrical design, your investment in white diesel fuel can be made extremely secure from the start. (Example fuel management system pictured above).

• Consider your fuel storage needs.
  Since white diesel is much more expensive, will you be using the same quantities of white diesel as you would have used in red? Or will the same amount of fuel need to last longer? Now could be the best time to reassess your on-site fuel storage needs – and to invest in a fuel management system that gives you remote access, to measure every drop of white diesel that goes into your business.

 

• Be careful not to let your white diesel contaminate or age out.
  Keep your stored fuel on a strict timer, with regular tank checks and maintenance, and you could also eliminate the cost of any spoiled fuel going to waste. Understandably, since white diesel carries a higher cost it may be tempting to reduce its use, and to keep it around for longer. But as diesel fuel stands unused, and as storage tanks condense with changing seasonal temperatures, diesel bug becomes a risk factor for fuel contamination and can even clog up your engines. Breakdowns are an extra potential cost that you really could do without!

 
Less fuel use, or longer fuel storage times, could also affect how much white diesel you have hanging around when it comes time to swap your summer and winter grades. So it’s well worth reassessing just how quickly you’ll be burning through your costlier store of white diesel fuel over the coming months, and when this summer-grade supply will need to be swapped out for the winter.
 

• Proof your fuel against theft.
  The sad truth is that with the switch to expensive white diesel, many more fuel storage sites around the country could become higher-value targets for fuel theft. As always, the best storage material for your fuel is bunded steel, and a cylinder shape provides your tank with the greatest possible structural strength. Add hidden internal hinges and a shrouded padlock cover, and you layer up even more defences which make your fuel storage tank a far more hardened target against theft.

 
Add an advanced fuel management system on top of that, and suddenly you’ve limited the basic dispensing of your fuel to only those people who own an assigned app licence, or a key fob, able to activate your fuel tank and make it operate. Without a key fob or Bluetooth app licence assigned to them, someone attempting to use your fuel tank can’t take a single drop.
 

• Also watch every drop of white diesel dispensed by your team.

While none of us can do much about the cost of fuel, there is absolutely a way to scrutinise where your new white diesel is going, and how often it’s being dispensed. A fuel management system gives you eyes on your fuel tank(s) remotely, along with all the data you’ll need to tell you who in your team has used your fuel supply, and when – and in precisely what quantity every time.

Click the link below to learn more about the red diesel restrictions from 1st April 2022, as detailed in the Government’s Reform of Red Diesel policy.