How to use a diesel car in a climate-friendly way

I still own a internal combustion engine (ICE) car (Skoda Octavia TDI 1.6 Diesel Greenline), which I hardly use anymore, but I want to keep. In addition, buying a new (electric) car is expensive and production creates new emissions, ie 13 tons CO2e [10, see also 9 for ICE cars]. Therefore, I have investigated how run this car more climate-friendly. Possible solutions are:

1. Use Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

    1. Source: Petrol Stations
    2. Conversion: None
    3. Pros:
      1. no conversion required
      2. reduces carbon emissions (depending on type of raw materials)
    4. Cons:
      1. no guarantuee for using HVO from most car manufactures (inkl Skoda)
      2. more expensive than fossil diesel
      3. based on other products, eg animal fats and palm tree waste products, negative regarding ecology or ethics

Note: Skoda supports all fuels for diesel cars, which follow EU norm EN590 [2]. Since HVO fuels are included in the EN590 norm, which allows HVO without any limit, HVO meets EN 590 except the requirement for minimum energy density [3, p. 7, 8, 9].  Some publications state fossil diesel may only be mixed with HVO100 upto 49% HVO100 [5], however, – without knowing the exact reason – I speculate that this limit is used to avoid that the resulting mixed fuel has an energy density lower than the lower limit of specification or EU Norm EN590. Renault and Volvo as car manufacturers have approved the use of HV100 in diesel cars [7, 8]. Volkswagen runs already trials on diesel cars with HVO100 [11].  Ford approved HVO for some models [16]. Personally, I can hardly imagine why HV100 would work for diesel cars of some manufacturers, but not for diesel cars of other manufacturers, which otherwise run on the same conventional fossil diesel fuel.

2. Used vegetable oils

    1. Source: Restaurants
    2. Conversion: Conversion Kit by ATG company
    3. Pros:
      1. costs from 960 Euro + work costs
      2. cheap fuel or even for free, because it’s just waste for restaurants
    4. Cons:
      1. used cooking oil has to be filtered
      2. does not work with my car

3. Convert to electric car [4]

        1. Manufacturer: Transition-One (https://transition-one.fr)
        2. Conversion: internal combustion engine to electric engine
        3. Pros:
          1. avoid emissions from production of new car
          2. avoids emissions (depending on how electricity is produced)
        4. Cons:
          1. still experimental, limited to specific car models, company located in France
          2. higher costs of about 5000 euros for conversion kit + work costs

Therefore, I have chosen option 1) and will from now on only use HVO fuels. However, depending on availability of HVO fuel during long-distance travel I may continue to use fossil diesel occasionally.

see also [6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15]

References:

[0] [1] http://www.diesel-therm.de/pflanzenoel-umruestsatz.htm
[2] https://www.facebook.com/Skodasverige/posts/1052252398229240/

Fråga: Hej, kan man köra HVO diesel i era bilar? Jag har en Octavia 150 2,0 tdi 2014.
ŠKODA Sverige Svar: … Så länge Dieselbränslet är godkänt enligt det europeiska normen EN590 så kan man tanka bränslet i Skodabilar.” Använder man ett annat bränsle så gäller inte Skodas garantier. Det är upp till bränslebolagen som utvecklar dessa bränslen som beslutar om de ska kunna användas i personbilar som måste uppfylla den europeiska normen. I dagsläget har vi dock ingen information om HVO. Vi rekommenderar att du vänder dig till tillverkaren av bränslet HVO för mer information om det uppfyller den europeiska normen EN 590. Hälsningar Skoda Kundservice”

[3] https://www.neste.com/sites/default/files/attachments/neste_renewable_diesel_handbook.pdf

“EN 590 … allows HVO without any limit” (p. 7)

“EN 590 does not take any position on the type of feedstock used to produce fuel components or on the way such components are processed and blended. The only requirement is that the final fuel meets the defined technical requirements. All suitable hydrocarbon-type blending components such as straight run gas oils or kerosenes, various types of cracked gas oils or kerosenes, gas-toliquid diesel fuels (GTL), hydrotreated vegetable oils and animal fats (HVO), as well as bio-to-liquids fuels (BTL) can be used. It does not matter whether the components to be blended are handled only inside a specific refinery site or whether they are traded as bulk batches between fuel suppliers before the final blending. The allowance of HVO is especially mentioned in EN 590 paragraph 5.4 ”Other (bio)components”.

HVO belongs to the group of hydrocarbons which are miscible with a hydrocarbon matrix of a fuel blend. Therefore, the use of HVO as a blending component does not need to be regulated further through technical standards.” (p. 8)

“As a matter of fact, HVO meets EN 590 except the requirement for minimum density.” (p. 9)

[4] https://efahrer.chip.de/news/start-up-entwickelt-elektro-umbausatz-fuer-alte-dieselautos_101063
[5] https://teknikensvarld.se/hvo100-raddaren-i-dieselnoden/

[6] https://trb.se/hvo100/

[7] https://www.renault.se/bilar/hvo.html

[8] https://www.volvocars.com/se/volvomagasin/artikel/allt-om-hvo100

[9] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/23/carbon-footprint-new-car

[10] https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-the-environmental-footprint-of-electric-versus-fossil-cars-124762

[11] https://msverige.se/allt-om-bilen/miljo/syntetisk-diesel-hvo/

“Volkswagen

Vi har idag två pilotprojekt – Södertälje Kommun och Skellefteå Kommun – som testar Volkswagen-bilar med HVO100. Det finns också intresse för bränslet hos fler kunder. Vi väntar oss besked från vårt huvudkontor om hur vi kan gå vidare med HVO100 inom en inte alltför avlägsen framtid.

Marcus Thomasfolk, Informationschef”

[12] https://www.nyteknik.se/opinion/pressa-biljattarna-att-genast-godkanna-hvo-diesel-6978158

[13] http://akericentralen.com/aktuellt/hvo-godkanns-personbilar/

Ni som kör någon annan personbil som ännu inte blivit godkänd kan ändå tanka HVO hos oss, detta genom en garanti ifrån vår bränsleleverantör. Kontakta oss om ni är intresserade så hjälper vi er.

[14] https://byggindustrin.se/artikel/nyhet/tankar-fossilfritt-trots-att-drivmedlet-inte-ar-godkant-23300

[15] http://www.bilsweden.se/i-debatten/bilsweden_tycker/fakta-i-dieseldebatten

– HVO = Hydrerade Vegetabiliska Oljor, är ett fossilfritt bränsle för en dieselmotor. HVO kommer i olika kvalitéer och kan ersätta fossil diesel upp till 100 procent.

[16] https://www.vibilagare.se/nyheter/ford-godkanner-hvo-men-inte-i-alla-bilar

http://wilmarigl.de

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