Racing ahead with Biofuels – Bentley, BMW, Porsche, Others Embrace Biofuels
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Bentley’s Continental GT3 Pikes Peak racecar proved to be fastest racecar running on renewable fuel at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2021, beating out all other sustainability-focused entrants (like Tesla’s Model S and an Acura NSX). Another car manufacturer, BMW, invested $12.5 million into Prometheus Fuels saying, “Prometheus will make drop-in replacement fuels that are guilt-free. Prometheus will help to fuel the power of choice.” Porsche is working with ExxonMobil to test advanced biofuels and eFuels made from hydrogen and CO2. But some luxury car manufacturers aren’t doing much to support biofuels.
In today’s Digest, a look at what Bentley, BMW, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and others are doing to advance biofuels, who’s silent, what it all means, and more.
Bentley
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According to Automotive News Europe, the 4.0-liter, V8 engine ran on a blend of 98RON Renewable racing biofuel, a low-carbon, high-octane fuel made from a dedicated blend of advanced biofuels specifically designed for motorsport, which produces 85 percent less greenhouse gas than regular gasoline, though they did not specify what the biofuel feedstock was or what biofuel company or companies provided it.
So what’s the cost for this special racecar biofuel?
According to Bloomberg, “Paul Williams, Bentley’s director of motorsport, declined to name the exact cost of making it but said the fuel costs roughly five times the price of gasoline yet a fraction of the price of efuels derived from hydrogen and synthesized methanol.”
“It’s still maybe not cheap enough for every driver, but for those who drive our cars, we have a fighting chance of making it work,” says Williams, noting that efuels such as those Porsche is testing cost more than a hundred times as much as gasoline. “More than 80% of all Bentleys ever made are still on the road. So the idea is that our owners could put this fuel directly into their own cars and use them seamlessly as before.”
This latest race running on a biofuel Bentley also marks the start of a long-term renewable fuels program that has the ultimate goal of being able to offer genuinely sustainable fuels to Bentley customers.
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The Digest reported as early as December 2020 that Bentley Motors was the first luxury automotive brand to run its in-house logistics on 100% renewable fuels – that’s right, 100%. This follows the installation of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fueling facilities at its site in Crewe, UK.
A 34,000 liter ‘Green D+’ HVO tank and pump now fuels the ten HGV logistics trucks that transfer parts between Bentley’s Crewe site and storage depot in Winsford on a daily basis and over 20 smaller on-site security vehicles and delivery vans. The 250 plus forklift trucks and tow motors used inside the factory are already being charged with green electricity generated in part by Bentley’s 30,000 on-site solar panels.
BMW
As reported in The Digest in March on our Reimagining CO2 coverage of Prometheus Fuels capturing transport energy out of thin air, BMW invested $12.5 million into Prometheus.
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Now the Norwegian fund Tjuvholmen Ventures has also made an investment of undisclosed size.
As BMW notes, “The modularity of the approach will enable micro-cells of gasoline production where there is a surplus of renewable energy available.” And they noted that the “salvaged CO2 encounters renewable electricity in an electrochemical stack called the Faraday Reactor. The electricity “charges” the carbon with hydrogen molecules from the water to create long-chain alcohols, releasing pure oxygen.
Porsche
Porsche has been looking not only into biofuels but biobased car components, doubling up on their sustainability efforts for their vehicles.
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But most importantly, and recently, Porsche is working with ExxonMobil to test advanced biofuels and renewable, lower-carbon eFuels, as part of a new agreement to find pathways toward potential future consumer adoption.
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The eFuel is anticipated to achieve a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of up to 85 percent, when blended to current market fuel standards for today’s passenger vehicles.
What about Tesla, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi and other luxury leaders?
We haven’t heard much ….
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Tesla’s focus has been on electric cars, and as reported in The Digest in May, is seeking EPA permission to participate in the RIN market which is currently dominated by ethanol and could divert the focus from biofuels to electricity produced from biogas.
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Ferrari is one we wonder about as The Digest reported on their use of E85 to add 225 horsepower to one of their car upgrades back in 2012, and that Virent was supplying the Scuderia Ferrari race team with a blend of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol as well as biogas, made by Wisconsin-based Virent – but that was in 2010 and it’s been pretty silent since then.
Like Jaguar who in 2008 said they were partnering with Lotus Engineering to create an advanced biofuel engine called the Omnivore, and has since gone silent too.
Rolls-Royce hasn’t been focused on biofuels for cars, but they sure have for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
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Rolls-Royce has also been working with Airbus and Neste and in March launched the world’s first in-flight emissions study using 100% SAF on a wide-body commercial passenger aircraft. READ MORE
Bentley’s renewable fuel racer finishes fourth in Pikes Peak race (Biofuels International)
