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Volvo's European president Claes Nilsson says alternative fuels and new driveline technology are vital if the industry is to become greener and more sustainable. However, speaking at Volvo's CO2-free seminar, he warned that reduced-CO2 options need to be more focused. At the last count, Nilsson said there were ten different potential feedstocks for sustainable bio-fuel production.

Those could undergo at least four different processes to produce seven distinctly different fuels. And the  benefits from each had also to be weighed against other CO2-cutting technologies unrelated to fuel formulations, most notably diesel-electric hybrid drivelines. Without an over-arching strategy at EU, or even global level, framed in consultation with engine makers and other stakeholders, there was a danger of widespread incompatibility in engine-fuel matching.

This could pose practical fuel availability problems, especially for long-haul truck operators needing to refuel at commercial filling stations away from their home bases. Strategic plans should be addressed without delay by vehicle manufacturers in collaboration with fuel producers, bearing in mind that building a new alternative fuel plant was likely to take a minimum of 24 months.

In deciding which fuels merited priority development, within the vital context of CO2 emissions reduction, it was important, said Volvo's drivelines planning manager Anders Kellström, to quantify 'well to wheel' (WTW) benefits, along with  the not always obvious shortcomings. For example, FAME bio-diesel typically comes from rapeseed, whose productive cultivation requires fertiliser that itself demands a high energy input to manufacture, with an accompanying CO2 penalty.

Biomass-to-liquid (BTL) synthetic diesel and DME (dimethyl ether) scored better in WTW terms, but to be viable, BTL production in particular needed very large and costly processing plants.