Call for Government Incentives for Switch to HVO

It’s not really news, as these trucks have been able to run on 100% HVO for some years now, but DAF, amongst others, are rightly keen to promote the green benefits of using HVO compared to diesel. There’s lots of talk about the environmental benefits of buying electric trucks, but the costs are relatively high. Of course, HVO is more expensive than standard diesel but nowhere near the costs of these new electric trucks. With well to wheel CO2 savings approaching 90% when using HVO, every company that operates trucks should be using this fuel.

HVO – Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil – is a biofuel of the latest generation that enables a reduction in CO₂ emissions of up to 90% and can perfectly be used in all New Generation DAF trucks.

Government Incentives Needed

Patrick Dean, chief engineer at DAF Trucks said, “HVO is enabling us to make a giant leap in the reduction of CO₂ emissions, already today, with the current trucks on the market and more importantly ‘well-to-wheel’. When it comes to CO₂ certification of trucks, it would be a huge step forward if European legislation would value the contribution of clean fuels to reduce CO₂ emissions, as we cannot afford to leave opportunities unused to achieve sustainable road transport. This should expand focus on the total chain – from energy source up to what’s coming out of the exhaust – instead of focusing on ‘tank-to-wheel’ only.”

Patrick is right. If the government could put in a temporary rebate for using HVO compared to diesel, huge CO2 savings could be made. Perhaps the issue is that what’s coming out of the exhaust pipe is more visible and easier to measure than the whole process of fuel production.

What is HVO?

Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is made from waste products and fats from the food industry. It is currently the most sustainable fuel on the market for diesel trucks and offers a reduction of up to 90% in CO₂ emissions (‘Well-to-wheel’) compared with regular diesel. Unlike previous generations of biofuels, HVO has no impact on food production.

In addition to the environmental benefits, another important advantage is that HVO can be used in DAF trucks without any adjustments to the vehicles, while maintaining the trucks’ excellent performance, as well as the service intervals of up to 200,000 kilometres for long-distance transport.

Filling with HVO
HVO offers a reduction of up to 90% in CO₂ emissions (‘Well-to-wheel’)

Suited for the full DAF product range

All of the newest generation of DAF trucks are ready to use 100% HVO, including the LF series for, the XD, XF, XG and XG+.

“DAF is at the forefront of our society’s ambition to reduce CO₂ emissions”, according to Patrick Dean. “In 2018 we were the first to launch a fully electric truck and last year we presented a completely new generation of electric trucks with ‘zero-emission’ ranges of up to 500 kilometres. We are also getting ready for the new generations of fuels.”