Advanced biofuels are not the affordable alternative to oil that the fuels industry claims.
Biofuels are being touted as an affordable alternative to oil during the energy crisis, but new research finds that pure HVO, the most widely promoted ‘drop in’ replacement for fossil fuels, is 79% more expensive, on average, than charging an electric car. T&E called on EU lawmakers to resist pressure to weaken carmakers’ CO2 targets by counting vehicles that can only use expensive biofuels as zero emission.
Charging an EV costs €7 per 100km driven, on average, in the EU – while pure HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) would cost €13 to cover the same distance, the T&E analysis finds. The German and Italian governments and the European car industry want to weaken EU car CO2 targets – which are a major driver of more affordable EV models – by counting combustion cars running on advanced biofuels as zero emissions. This is despite there not being enough advanced biofuels to go around.
If the car lobby succeeds, motorists could be pushed into buying even more expensive biofuels technologies due to the limited amount of HVO available. Less mature biofuels technologies – from feedstocks such as the biomass portion of municipal solid waste or cellulosic residues – could be 80% to 110% more costly than driving a BEV on average, the research finds.
Émilie Casteignau Bernardini, vehicles policy manager at T&E, said: “Charging an EV is far cheaper than filling up a tank on advanced biofuels. By promoting biofuels for cars, the car industry wants to leave drivers with the bill while it delays electrification. On the contrary, maintaining the EU targets will ensure an increasing supply of more affordable EVs and avoid expensive diversions into HVO and other biofuels that cannot be scaled sustainably.” (....)