Chevron Corp. plans to showcase “renewable gasoline” it claims will eventually offer similar emissions savings to electric cars, just days after the US proposed the toughest-ever tailpipe pollution limits.
(Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp. plans to showcase “renewable gasoline” it claims will eventually offer similar emissions savings to electric cars, just days after the US proposed the toughest-ever tailpipe pollution limits.
Tests show that the fuel, partly made from renewable feedstocks like used cooking oil, produces 40% fewer greenhouse gases than regular gasoline, Chevron said in a statement Monday.
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A Toyota Motor Corp. hybrid RAV4 running on renewable gasoline would have a similar carbon footprint to a pure-electric vehicle in 2040, the company forecasts. Although battery vehicles require no fossil fuels to run, they can be linked to carbon emissions if the power supply that charges them runs on natural gas or coal.
“The world needs more choices as we’re working our way through the transition,” said Balaji Krishnamurthy, Chevron’s vice president of strategy and sustainability. Renewable gasoline “can get to lower carbon for 95% of the existing fleet” without consumers needing to buy a new car.
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Oil refiners and car manufacturers like Toyota are trying to come up with ways to decarbonize the internal-combustion engine as regulators around the world push to electrify road transport. Pollution standards outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency last week for the coming decades are so stringent that they would effectively compel automakers to ensure that two-thirds of their light-duty vehicle sales are electric by 2032.
Lawmakers in the European Union and California have gone a step further, floating the idea of banning internal-combustion engine sales in the coming decades. Exxon Mobil Corp. also is working on a low-carbon fuel blend.
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Chevron will demonstrate the renewable gasoline by taking three Toyotas on a road trip across the US Gulf Coast. But selling it widely may be some years away due to its cost. For commercial viability, the low-carbon fuel will need fiscal incentives like those built into California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, said Andy Walz, president of Chevron’s fuels and lubricants Americas division.
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