Right now, the global transport industry is at loggerheads about the best ‘green’ power source for the heavy vehicle of the future.
Should an electric battery power a load, or should hydrogen fuel-cell technology be the weapon of choice? Is a hybrid truck the best way to begin the transition, or is simply focusing on Euro 6 diesel technology a feasible starting point?
While these four options tend to be the dominant pillars of the debate, a choice lesser considered, nor mentioned, has steadily grown behind the scenes, riding on the coat tails of the latest electric releases. That option is biofuel.
While biofuels are not the preferred power source for many in the global transport industry, they certainly have their followers. Globally, major manufacturers have steadily unveiled new models that can take a range of bio-friendly fuel. But what is biofuel, and is it an option for Australian trucking manufacturers?
Put simply, a biofuel is a fuel option produced from biomass, or any living matter. Unlike the slow burn of fossil fuels such as diesel, biofuel is able to be produced quickly from the likes of plant, algal or animal biomass. Additional to its speedy production timeframe, biofuel is also cost-effective and more sustainable, with the use of vegetable oils and animal fats being easier to source in the long term than the raw ingredients of petrol-based fuels.
It’s these benefits that are slowly starting to see biofuels and other Low Carbon Liquid Fuels (LCLFs) come into the fray in the Australian trucking sector.
The Truck Industry Council’s (TIC) latest National Truck Plan discusses a range of options for refreshing the nation’s truck fleet in order to bring it in line with global truck age averages and, in turn, help hit zero-emissions targets.
To help reach sustainability targets, TIC calls for the expansion of the Guarantee of Origin Scheme to include LCLFs which would allow the industry to run existing trucks on cleaner fuels that cause less damage to the environment during their production
“The federal government should implement blending mandates for biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be introduced concurrently on all three LCLFs and at a point in the fuel supply chain no later than the fuel wholesaler,” the plan says.
“The federal government should also introduce measures that will achieve cost effective, high quality and consistent LCLF/ mineral diesel blends to support blend mandates by means of a volume blending system similar to that deployed in Europe.”
OwnerDriver has chatted to Australia’s major OEMs to find out what they think of biofuels in their truck models and whether they’ve made any moves to implement the potential power source in their fleets.
At Penske Australia and New Zealand, producing trucks locally that are biodiesel-ready has been a core part of its program for decades. Since 2004, MAN models have been able to take biodiesel, while Western Star trucks have had the same ability since 2007. Penske Australia and New Zealand executive general manager of on-highway Craig Lee says biofuel is just one player in a diverse range of “current and emerging technologies across all industries” that should be used to reduce emissions.
“Certain industries will be harder than others to achieve significant reductions in emissions,” he told OwnerDriver.
“We see liquefied low-emission fuels running in internal combustion engines as a practical and viable technology for reducing emissions in vehicles used in the freight task.
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“While there are some challenges in the current and future supply chain for significant volumes of this product and highly competitive demand across different sectors, we certainly think that liquified low-emission fuels have a part to play, and we’re ready to use these fuels today.”
This means Penske Australia and New Zealand was quick to support TIC’s National Truck Plan recommendations around biofuel regulations. It wasn’t alone in this endeavour – out of the five OEMs that OwnerDriver chatted to about biofuels, all of them were supportive of the idea that access to LCLFs should be made easier.
“Isuzu supports TIC’s position, not just on LCLFs, but also on the entirety of its National Truck Plan to improve the carbon footprint of the transport industry,” an Isuzu Australia spokesperson told OwnerDriver.
“We plan to provide further details regarding our products and Isuzu Trucks’ carbon neutral strategy at our media briefing at the upcoming Brisbane Truck Show.”
While manufacturers are supportive of the use of biofuels, they report that the price barrier for getting into the biofuel market is currently too high to make biofuels a cost-effective alternative for truck owners around Australia.
“Cost is still a barrier for entry for many operators,” a Volvo Trucks Australia spokesperson told OwnerDriver.
“Any initiative that speeds up the uptake of cleaner fuels or cleaner drivelines is a great step in the right direction.”
In December last year, Volvo announced it had switched to filling all new Volvo and Mack truck models produced at its local Wacol facility in Queensland with Hydro Treated Vegetable Oil (HVO) instead of diesel. Its upcoming FH Aero will also come ready to take the fuel source.
“All Volvo Group engine platforms are biofuel friendly, however the D17 at its highest hp setting of 780 is only rated to run on HVO or a diesel equivalent rather than straight recycled biodiesel,” the Volvo spokesperson says.
While Volvo is able to source the fuel and send its trucks out with a first tank of biofuel, its customers will find it difficult to re-fill tank number two with the same fuel at any regular service stations in Australia. The spokesperson says the lack of investment in the technology and infrastructure to support biofuels in Australia means accessing biofuels easily, and at the right price, is too hard.
In Europe, IVECO is a market leader in alternative fuels through its use of natural gas, which has become popular due to government support in funding refuelling facilities. While alternative fuelled vehicles aren’t new to Australia, with IVECO another manufacturer offering natural gas-powered vehicles for some time, issues regarding infrastructure continue to prevent the power source from becoming more popular for the local truck scene.
“Unfortunately, this fuel has never reached its full potential here due to a lack of refuelling infrastructure – the public refuelling network is small,” an IVECO spokesperson told OwnerDriver.
“Given this, vehicles were limited to shorter back-to-base operations, with some fleets electing to install refuelling infrastructure at their own depots if it’s a viable option.”
The current IVECO range is completely compatible with the latest generation of renewable diesel fuels such as HVO/XTL. IVECO says no technical modifications are needed to use the biofuels on its trucks, and it doesn’t impact the standard warranty and maintenance intervals if it’s used compared to the previous generation of biofuels such as B7, B10 and B15.
When looking at its applications in transport, IVECO says biofuels have power and output performances that are comparable to standard diesel with the added advantage of not being tied to international parity pricing. With significantly less emissions coming from trucks that use this fuels such as CNG, IVECO is one brand hoping local governments in Australia invest in biofuels.
“IVECO is technologically agnostic, acknowledging that there isn’t one solution for all applications, and is actively developing battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell options along with our current CNG technologies,” the spokesperson says.
“Trucks compatible with biofuels, both renewable diesel and RNG, are available today with ranges and refuelling times in parity with fossil fuel diesel, marking its significant advantage over BEV and HFCEV trucks in heavy haulage operations.”
Daimler is another company supporting the use of biodiesel at various levels, with its vehicles able to operate with pure alternative diesel fuels in accordance with DIN EN 15940, as well as in a mixture with convention diesel fuels. The brand has found that biodiesels are more than just able to be used – they have no adverse effects on how Daimler’s truck models operate.
“We’ve found that operating with 100 per cent paraffinic diesel fuel or mixed-fuel operations with diesel fuel has no impact on the oil change intervals or intervals for the cleaning and exchange of the diesel particulate filter,” a Daimler spokesperson told OwnerDriver.
“Our technology supports biodiesel, although our main focus remains on low emission diesel internal combustion, battery electric and, moving forward, hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen combustion technology.”
Manufacturers around the world are faced with the difficult task of speculating on which green technology will become the most cost effective and readily available at some point in the future.
Ultimately, the aim is for zero emissions from the trucks themselves – which leans in favour of hydrogen and electric outcomes. Right now though, biofuels offer a lower total carbon impact than existing diesel fuels, as they are created using a less carbon intensive production process.
While projects developing zero-emissions truck infrastructure are underway around the country, in the Western Australian town of Kwinana, it’s the future of biofuel development that is firmly in the spotlight.
At Kwinana, which is deep in the state’s mining heartland, bp’s Renewable Fuels project is currently in Front End Engineering Design. When complete, it will allow a mixture of transport fuel sources to be decarbonised, creating more accessible biofuels in the process.
“The project will see existing refining infrastructure repurposed to produce drop-in fuel products that have the ability over time to support the decarbonisation of aviation and heavy industry, subject to regulatory and state government approvals,” a bp spokesperson told OwnerDriver.
Once this is completed, logic dictates that biofuels should rise in popularity. Many of Australia’s leading truck models can seamlessly use the source, and the infrastructure issue should have a temporary fix to create more supply. But is it that simple?
When asked, all major OEMs who discussed biofuels with OwnerDriver viewed them in a different light to battery electric and hydrogen fuel source technology. Instead of being perceived as an end objective, biofuels are seen as a transitionary stepping stone to achieving net zero emissions.
“Biofuel is a technically viable intermediary for transitioning to a more sustainable energy future – it could act as a bridge between our current reliance on conventional fossil fuels and the anticipated widespread adoption of zero-emissions alternatives,” the IVECO spokesperson says.
“For RNG to succeed here in Australia, we would require the same government support regarding legislation and funding as provided in the EU, for instance, to initiate and incentivise the production of high-quality compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and support the entire ecosystem necessary.”
The Volvo spokesperson supported this point, seeing biofuels as a “great step on the path for decarbonisation, but not a likely end point”. The reason provided went back to the volatile emissions impact the technology had on its trucks. A positive was that this still didn’t rule out biofuels from the global powerhouse’s future planning.
“HVO, for example, reduces well to wheel emissions, but when it is burnt in the engine, the emissions are close to if it was running on diesel. Future development of e-fuels for ICE drivelines are likely to tackle this issue,” the spokesperson says.
“Biofuels are just one way to reduce emissions, however there will be a multipronged approach to decarbonisation in transport that will include battery electric and hydrogen drivelines. In the future we may also see bio-gas drivelines powered by renewable biogas.”
The final word goes to Penske Australia and New Zealand’s Craig Lee. While the international OEM also follows its competitors in not being able to place all of its eggs in the one basket when it comes to future power sources, it has more of an idea where biofuels lay in its plans. While biofuel is currently a viable technology, Penske views it as a bridge to cover the gap between diesel and zero-emissions options like electric and hydrogen sources.
“We’ve seen globally that different segments, geographies, infrastructure and policies heavily influence the commercial viability of different technologies,” he says.
“The barriers currently in Australia to broad adoption of hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric vehicles in the heavy duty on-highway truck segment make low-emission liquified fuels look like a practical and timely alternative.”
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