Is diesel really dead or are they trying to kill it? BMW is also opting to use HVO 100 renewable diesel in its new models

Those of us whose hair is starting to turn grey remember perfectly well how, a few years ago, petrol engines suffered an absurd demonisation in favour of diesel, and today, in order to force electric powertrains in by the back door, it is diesel (and petrol) that is suffering this witch hunt, which in fact is once again benefiting petrol engines, whether conventional or hybrid.

In the end, those who truly suffer within this sometimes absurd debate are consumers, who at some point, when buying a vehicle, won’t know which powertrain to opt for or will simply choose to keep their current vehicle for a few more years. For now, the reality is that brands have been forced to invest enormous sums of money in designing electric vehicles and adapting their facilities, but in parallel they continue to develop and invest money in adapting current combustion engines to renewable fuels, which allow the continued use of current technology with the dozens of advantages this entails both for the brands themselves and for consumers, who could keep using a technology they already know while reducing CO2 emissions to a minimum.

A good example of this is the BMW Group, which, as we know, is not a corporation characterised by lurching from one position to another on this issue, but rather by taking safe steps, and which now announces that it is becoming a new member of the eFuel Alliance. This alliance represents more than 170 companies, associations and consumer organisations and, among manufacturers, we find other highly representative names such as Porsche, Mazda, Suzuki and Iveco among others, all united with the aim of promoting a pragmatic regulatory framework and the rapid launch of the renewable fuels market, thereby also encouraging other brands to adopt renewable fuels as a complementary technological path.

Within this alliance, the BMW Group has committed that, from 25 January 2025, all diesel models produced at its German plants in Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg and Leipzig will be filled with HVO 100 renewable diesel, a truly important announcement given that more than 50% of the diesel vehicles produced annually by the BMW Group come from these factories, which thus makes it possible to reduce CO2 by up to 90% over the fuel’s life cycle compared with fossil diesel, according to Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. This also serves to demonstrate to the world that its diesel engines are perfectly compatible with this fuel.

And what is HVO 100 renewable diesel? This type of fuel began to make noise in 2022, and several brands such as Toyota with its Hilux and Land Cruiser, which can use this fuel in Spain, or more recently Maxus with its new T60 Max, and even Audi, whose diesel engines, both V6 and inline four-cylinder, are also approved for its use. Its characteristics are similar to conventional diesel, but it has the particularity of being obtained from vegetable oils such as rapeseed or animal fats through a chemical process with hydrogen, resulting in HVO 100 which, depending on the certification it obtains, can reduce CO2 emissions by between 70% and 95% compared with fossil-origin diesel.

Therefore, we return to the question that served as the title for these lines: Is diesel really dead or are they trying to kill it? In my opinion I lean towards the latter, since, as we can see, there is the possibility that with minimal changes to current technology we could keep having and using diesel engines, which would translate into lower costs for the final customer, with the possibility of renewing the vehicle fleet and helping the transition to green energy for a majority sector of the population to be less traumatic and easier, in addition to maintaining a powertrain that has proven durable and efficient.

All of this against the backdrop of voices such as that of José Luis Calvo, professor and author of the notebook on Economics and Sustainable Development through the Chair of Sustainable Territories at UNED Ponferrada, who firmly asserts that replacing fossil energy with green energy in the short and medium term is impossible, and that the date of 2050 set by the European Union for becoming a carbon-neutral continent is a mere mirage.