BioWillie Fuel - Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company

Willie Nelson is not the first celebrity to endorse biodiesel, the vegetable oil-based fuel that can be blended with diesel to lower emissions. However, instead of just tacking his name onto a cause, Willie Nelson is actually doing some-thing about it. He has formed Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company to distribute his own blend of biodiesel fuel called BioWillie. Made of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel, or B20, BioWillie is now avail-able at various locations in Texas and along the Eastern Seaboard. While marketed primarily toward truckers, any diesel-powered vehicle can run BioWillie or any other B20 blend without modification.

So how did Willie Nelson the music legend become Willie Nelson the biodiesel distributor? As it turns out, Nelson first became interested in biodiesel when his wife bought a Mercedes diesel powered by the alternative fuel at their home in Hawaii. After doing a bit of Internet research, Nelson knew biodiesel was something he wanted to get behind. So, like a front man without a band, Nelson just needed some partners to help put his biodiesel show on the road.

Filling the bill for distribution and sup-ply is Peter Bell, head of a company called Distribution Drive that provides biodiesel fuel to several stations in the Dallas, Texas area. The two hooked up when Bell filled up Nelson’s tour bus – biodiesel-powered of course – while cruising through Dallas. Providing BioWillie’s first venue is business partner Carl Cornelius, owner of Carl’s Corner Truck Stop near Hillsboro, Texas. In addition to being the first station to offer BioWillie B20, the major truck stop also serves as Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company’s headquarters. Rounding out the group are Monk White, a Dallas financier, and Steve Gilcrease.

Willie Nelson Biodiesel recently joined forces with the Spinx Company, a petroleum products seller in the southeast U.S., to bring BioWillie to a Spinx filling station in Greer, South Carolina. The station is the first truck stop on the Eastern Seaboard to offer B20 fuel, but it won’t be the last. Willie Nelson Biodiesel envisions a chain of BioWillie refueling stations snaking up the east coast from Miami, Florida to Rochester, New York. Nelson and friends don’t plan to stop the tour there either; they’d like to see BioWillie playing on a national stage. The company is in talks with Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores to distribute BioWillie at 169 locations around the country.

The marketability that Willie Nelson brings to the table is not lost on the venture’s partners. This venerable country crooner carries a credibility and appeal that connects with truck drivers and other potential biodiesel buyers in a way that a suit from Washington never could. That’s because Willie Nelson is the real deal, a defender of family-based farms and the creator of Farm Aid, a fund to keep farmers on their land. Biodiesel, which is produced from feedstocks that come from American farms, simply adds to the chorus he’s been singing all of his life. The biodiesel industry certainly appreciates the attention. As U.S. production of biodiesel climbs from 36 million gallons in 2004 to as high as 60 million gallons by the end of this year – still small-time compared to gasoline and diesel – biodiesel advocates are trying to position the fuel as a real alternative. A federal tax credit that makes biodiesel prices competitive with conventional diesel fuel has spurred growth in some markets, while the support of Willie Nelson and others is invaluable in raising biodiesel’s public profile. As a clean-burning, renewable alternative to diesel fuel, it’s about time biodiesel shared some of the spotlight.