Electrification dominates decarbonisation talk in coach and bus. That is realistic in many applications, but for others, electric remains some way off. Biofuels are often cited as a valuable transitionary tool in those cases.
But all is not well for biofuels. Hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO, is a drop-in replacement for fossil diesel, and it is mired in difficulties after the government opened an investigation into what the BBC calls “significant fraud” around how much virgin palm oil – and not waste products – has been used in its manufacture.
Meanwhile, data compiled by specialist Portland and shared with routeone each month shows that HVO comes at a price premium. Not a huge uplift, but transport operators’ annual consumption of diesel is usually measured in the hundreds of thousands of litres as a minimum up to hundreds of millions. Even a penny on each quickly adds up.
Government has shown little sign of backing HVO, although whether the supply chain could meet demand if it achieved price parity with fossil diesel is for debate. Perhaps the cost argument is thus moot, although a fraud investigation is hardly likely to drive uptake.
Biodiesel is widespread and perhaps a more attractive low-carbon fuel. But Stagecoach – long an enthusiastic supporter of biodiesel – instead notes in its most recent net-zero update how all the electricity it has procured since 2022 is from renewable sources. The group is targeting an entirely zero-emission bus fleet by 2035.
What is a better decarbonisation investment: Upping biofuel use, or pursuing electrification? The answer is likely pretty simple for many fleets that are ready for battery-electric now.
Such a position looks to be reflected in the domestic biodiesel production network. The Renewable Transport Fuel Association (RTFA) observes how one of the UK’s four such plants, in Immingham, is temporarily ceasing production. That follows the complete closure in 2024 of another in Motherwell.
Greenergy, which owns the Immingham facility, says that “significant challenges” currently face the UK biofuels industry and that market conditions are “unsupportive.”
A similar story was told when Argent Energy closed the Motherwell location, although it said that biodiesel capacity at a plant in Amsterdam would be tripled, suggesting that there remains a buoyant market for it.
RTFA cites various contributors to the decline in domestic biodiesel production. Several point to government indifference. Entry of renewable fuels produced elsewhere without tariffs, failure to sufficiently increase Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation targets, and a lack of other incentives for biodiesel are among them.
These travails could lead to a view that biofuels are on the downslope. Said government indifference means that they have never leveraged their full potential, while it is often said (and entirely correct) that trips moved from car to a coach or bus regardless of its energy source is a win in the decarbonisation quest.
Nevertheless, biofuels retain an important part in the industry’s work to reduce its carbon footprint; electrification is here for many bus applications, but realistically is it years away – both practically and financially – for a lot of use cases in the coach field.
Alternatives to fossil diesel while retaining an internal combustion engine are equally – if not more – important than electrification for a lot of the road transport sector, and that should not be overlooked despite current difficulties in the biofuel field.
