Just thought I'd put in a post regarding whether anyone is using HVO / XTL* in their diesel cars?
This isn't FAME biodiesel. It's technically a fossil-free paraffinic diesel made from (usually) waste vegetable oil made to BS EN 15940. Some manufacturers call it a kind of synthetic diesel.
Initial marketing from suppliers indicated this was sufficiently chemically similar to mineral diesel made to EN 590 to be a drop-in alternative with no modifications etc necessary. More info here:
https://www.crownoil.co.uk/faq/hvo-fuel-faq/
There's been a bit of pushback from some manufacturers (who no doubt haven't spent the budget on approval testing). Nevertheless it's had approval in recent diesel engines from VAG, Stellantis (i.e Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall, Opel ect) as well as several heavier diesel engine applications.
Skoda Ireland recently had a joint campaign with Certa, giving drivers of new Skodas fuel vouchers to run on the stuff (and I believe temporarily paying for price parity of HVO with standard diesel). BMW have been supplying their cars with a first fill of HVO too. As such we're staring to see encouraging signs from mainstream manufacturers about its use.
Crown Oil (as the link above) claim a 90% reduction in net CO2 emissions compared to mineral diesel. BP claim 85% for theirs.
In the UK this is becoming available at some truck-stops for fleet drivers with fuel-cards.. It's still rare at fuel stations for personal use, but I've found a local oil company with a retail pump, currently sitting at about 10p per litre more than standard B7 diesel. For a 90% reduction in net CO2, that might be a difference I'm willing to pay for.
I'm considering running this in a Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC, which I believe has one of the most fuel efficient diesel engines available for a passenger car. It's not approved by Honda, but it's well out of warranty by now. It will be interesting to see how it runs.
So - have others taken the plunge on this type of fuel?
* i.e. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) or Anything to Liquid (XTL)
Linear Mode
