BMW to fill up new diesel cars with 100% hydrotreated vegetable oil

From the beginning of next year, BMW will fill all newly built diesel cars leaving the factory in Germany with HVO100, a hydrotreated vegetable oil made from rapeseed oil or waste-based feedstock such as used cooking oil, residues, and other renewable raw materials.

HVO100 has a higher cetane number (c80) than standard diesel and has a lower sulfur and aromatics content. Palm oil is not used during production, and the product does not consist of conventional biodiesel. The German automaker is working with Finnish manufacturer Neste on the initiative.

BMW Group is convinced that all available technologies are needed to reduce CO2 across the entire chain of impacts. For example, fuels that are not based on fossil raw materials have the potential to reduce CO2.

Hydrogenated vegetable oil

HVO 100 produces 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions over its life cycle than regular fossil diesel. The first filling at the factories for delivery to the BMW Group sales organization is five to eight liters, depending on the model.

BMW’s plants in Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg, and Leipzig, which produce more than half of the BMW Group’s diesel vehicles annually, are all converting to hydrotreated vegetable oil. Many gas stations across Germany offer the new fuel, and BMW has been using it in a handful of logistics trucks since March 2023.

Just-in-time basis

“When it comes to climate protection, every ton of CO2 saved counts,” said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse in a statement. “The more than 250 million existing vehicles in Europe are an important factor here. Their CO2 balance could be significantly improved if the regenerative share of fuel was increased.” And that’s what the German car manufacturer will do from January 2025.

Since March 2023, HVO 100, produced by Neste, has also been used in trucks in the logistics of the BMW Group factory. They supply the main factory in Munich on a just-in-time basis. This was expanded to six additional trucks. These trucks belong to the DB Schenker fleet and use shuttle services to transport warehouse parts from the BMW Group supply center in Eching for production in Munich.

‘100% clean fuel’

BMW is part of the eFuel Alliance, a significant interest group representing some 170 companies around the globe aiming to see eFuels as a replacement for fossil fuels. Other companies in the group include Suzuki, Mazda, Bosch, Siemens, and Honeywell, among others.

HVO stands for ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’, and ‘100’ stands for ‘100%’ or ‘clean fuel’. It is a high-quality product and offers several technical advantages: it emits less CO2 and has better cold-start properties. Due to its purity, it is also resistant to microbial contamination.