Video Transcript
New diesel vehicles produced by a German luxury automaker will depart the factory with a much more environmentally friendly fuel in their tanks.
But they apparently won’t be able to travel very far without filling back up.
BMW, according to a report by CarScoops, has partnered with Finnish oil and gas producer Neste to supply fuel known as HVO 100 to select company factories, as well as to new cars as they head to showrooms and dealerships.
HVO 100 is a hydrotreated vegetable oil made from several different sources, including both waste cooking oil and renewable raw materials. It reportedly performs better than diesel in a cold start and, more importantly, produces 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions over its overall lifecycle.
BMW officials argued that even though HVO still has a carbon footprint, every ton of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere is important — particularly given Europe’s total passenger fleet of more than 250 million vehicles.
The more environmentally friendly fuel, however, will only carry test drivers so far: the report indicated that new diesel vehicles bound for sellers would get between five and eight liters of HOV 100 in the tank — or between 1.3 and 2.1 gallons.
CarScoops also noted that BMW is now a member of the eFuel Alliance, a Belgium-based group that advocates for the use of synthetic fuels that utilize renewable energy and airborne carbon dioxide. The group includes fellow automaker Mazda, auto supply giant Bosch, and industrial technology firm Siemens.
