Caparo develops 'Rightfuel' to save diesel cars

LONDON: The 1.5-billion-dollar Caparo group, founded and chaired by NRI entrepreneur Lord Swraj Paul, has helped develop a device that physically stops diesel cars being filled with petrol.

The device, christened as 'Rightfuel', will help around 400 motorists every day in the UK, who spend from 400 dollars to drain and replace the fuel and filters, to many thousands for engine and fuel system repairs, due to wrong fuel type.

"It is almost impossible to pump diesel fuel into a petrol car because the larger diameter of the pump nozzle prevents it being inserted into the smaller filler neck of a vehicle designed for patrol.

"The Caparo Rightfuel, which replaces the vehicle's filler cap, uses the difference in nozzle diameters to protect diesel vehicles. If the correct diesel nozzle has been presented, Rightfuel's patented mechanism disengages its prevention flap, allowing fuel to be pumped into the tank," said inventor Martin White.

The innovation specialists at the Caparo Innovation Centre at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK helped refine and validate the design and it was presented to Caparo's Chief Executive Officer Angad Paul, who immediately saw the potential and agreed to back it through to production.

The invention will be launched in the UK in mid-September as the 'Caparo Rightfuel' and is the only retrofit device that completely blocks the delivery of the wrong fuel type.

Moulded in tough engineering plastics, it is light-weight and totally corrosion proof. Because it fits on top of the filler neck, it does not rattle in the fuel pipe and is suitable for straight and curved filler necks.