Chevron USA Inc. has embarked on a road trip with Toyota across the Gulf Coast to demonstrate what it said is a new gasoline blend with over 50 percent renewable content.
The fuel “is more than 40 percent less carbon intensive than traditional gasoline on a lifecycle basis”, Chevron Corp. said in a press release Monday.
The tour on Toyota’s Camry, RAV4 and Tundra started Monday and passes through the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Chevron representatives will during the journey talk to the public about the benefits of lower-carbon fuels like renewable gasoline blends and biofuels.
Chevron said renewable gasoline blends can be used in current vehicle models and can be accommodated in the existing fueling network.
“Chevron believes the future of transportation is lower carbon and is growing its offering of biofuels solutions for customers”, it said in the release.
It already produces and markets biodiesel, renewable diesel and renewable natural gas and is also building a hydrogen fueling facility in California state, the release said.
“To complement these efforts, Chevron has developed, produced, and tested blends of renewable gasoline with the goal of such blends being manufactured using today’s infrastructure and used in almost any gasoline-powered vehicle to deliver an immediate carbon intensity reduction over traditional gasoline”, Chevron added.
Andy Walz, Chevron president for Americas products, commented, “with more than 265 million gasoline-powered vehicles on the road today in the United States, renewable gasoline blends could empower virtually all drivers to have a role in a lower carbon transportation future”.
Public Policy
Chevron says on its website gasoline is poised to remain the top automobile fuel through 2050, noting 95 percent of passenger vehicles in the USA today run on gasoline.
“The light-duty sector currently accounts for a staggering 57% of U.S. transportation emissions, and renewable gasoline blends, when supported with ambitious policies, are a path toward reducing this number”, the Chevron portal says.
The USA government had since 2006 required increasing annual average volumes of biofuel and renewable fuel in the transport energy mix. The minimum volumes are spelled out in the 2006 Renewable Fuel Standard Program as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. They were in effect from 2006 to 2022.
For 2023, 2024 and 2025 the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed volumes of 11.92 percent, 12.55 percent and 13.05 percent respectively for renewable fuel. Advanced biofuel is proposed to have 3.33 percent for 2023, 3.8 percent for 2024 and 4.28 percent for 2025. Biomass-based diesel is proposed to have 2.54 percent, 2.6 percent and 2.67 percent respectively. Cellulosic biofuel has proposed volumes of 0.41 percent, 0.82 percent and 1.23 percent respectively.
Hydrogen-Fueled Transport
Besides renewable fuel, hydrogen is seen by Chevron as a lower-carbon alternative in powering the transportation sector.
It said in Monday’s announcement that together with Toyota it is “exploring new technologies for fueling light- and heavy-duty vehicles and are pursuing a strategic alliance to explore new hydrogen-fuel solutions in the transportation sector”.
According to Chevron’s lower emissions roadmap published October 12, 2021, it was producing about one million tons of hydrogen yearly.
“At our refinery in Richmond, California, excess capacity in the new hydrogen unit, combined with existing and future strategic partnerships, will be the foundation to support hydrogen demand growth in the heavy-duty transportation, industrial, and power sectors”, its climate plan stated.
Chevron said April 21, 2021, it had entered a deal with Toyota Motor North America Inc. “to explore a strategic alliance to catalyze and lead the development of commercially viable, large-scale businesses in hydrogen”.
The memorandum of understanding provides for collaboration on public policy measures to promote hydrogen infrastructure, assessment of demand and supply opportunities for light- and heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles, and exploration of hydrogen-powered transport and storage.
Chevron targets net zero upstream direct emissions by 2050.
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