Eight 18 litre cases of ELF Evolution CRV 506.01 are due to arrive in the Linden, NJ warehouse this month, and until US distributers inventory the 506.01 it can be purchased directly from:
Laurent Siret
Market Development Manager
Elf Moto Division
TOTAL Lubricants USA, Inc.
5 North Stiles Street
Linden, NJ 07036
USA
laurent.siret@total-us.com
908.374.5063
Remember that this is an expensive oil, ~$18 per litre before shipping. My understanding is that they will only sell 18 litre cases and the cost, shipped UPS, for a case of ELF Evolution CRV 0w-30 506.01 is $350.
In an interesting turn of events, I visited Impex to see their current
Motul 506.01 pricing - and the item listing states "DO NOT SELL". I called and they said Motul 506.01 is currently not available, is not currently recommended by Motul for the US market, but it may become available again and he's keeping a list of persons interested in the Motul 506.01 and will contact them when and if it becomes available again.
so for a while, Motul 506.01 was available but ELF 506.01 was not. Now it seems ELF's 506.01 will be available and Motul's 506.01 will not be
this morning i mailed a sample of Motul 506.01 with 5047 miles on it to the lab for analysis. if the results compare favorably to my previous 505.01 analysis, maybe the UOAs will help Motul justify importing more 506.01...
Regarding warranty:
a Canadian ELF 506.01 user inquired with VW regarding his TDI's warranty and ELF 506.01 and the answer he recieved from VW was "you can of course use ELF EVOLUTION CRV 506.01 but you need to stick with the oil change intervals indicated in the car manual”.
Elf 506.01 usage recommendations for North American PD TDIs:
"So user of 506.01 in the US will not be able to use the extended oil change intervals but will gain on the better protection, full synthetic, fuel economy side and better low viscosity (better for cold starts)."
Lastly, I've asked for details regarding "long term test results for Elf’s Evolution CRV 0w-30" and "an explanation of the engine protection Elf’s Evolution CRV 0w-30 provides compared to the 505.01 specification". Laurent has forwarded my questions to the ELF Technical and Research Center in Solaize, France and we hope to hear back shortly.
Cheers!