First, consider customer partnerships. A number of operators have found that their high-profile customers are willing to pay a premium to demonstrate their environmental commitment by making transport operations low-carbon. That’s what haulier MJD did in cooperation with customer Coca-Cola, and Howard Tenens Logistics with customer Mole Valley Farms last year.
Second, consider bunkering. Operators using fuel cards (which currently would not have access to HVO, as it does not appear to be generally available on the forecourt) may save by buying HVO in bulk. Fleets that stand to gain the most are those that used to hold stocks of red – rebated – diesel for off-road machinery or for trailer fridge units, for example. Since the removal of the rebate in April 2022, those tanks should now be empty.
In addition, operators with bunkering could provide customers with a more cost-effective product by mixing unrebated white diesel and HVO in a ratio that produces the best combination of affordability and carbon reduction, since HVO can be mixed with diesel in any proportion.
In fact, such products already exist in the marketplace, pre-mixed, from several fuel suppliers, and are known by the relevant ratio, such as HVO 30 or HVO 100.
The only technical proviso there is density: the lower end of the diesel quality standard EN590 is 0.82kg/m³, but pure HVO is slightly lighter at around 0.78kg/m³. As a result, very high ratios of HVO might slip into the realms of the paraffinic diesel standard EN15940 (0.77-0.79kg/m³). Not every
Euro VI-compatible heavy-duty engine will necessarily have had an emissions test against the latter standard, which is less well-known, so potential users should check that with their engine OEMs.