renewable fuels offer viable option for customers

More electric vehicles are on the road today, but they still make up only a fraction of world's car sales. And at least for the near future, most drivers will be behind the wheel of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars.
That suggests lower carbon intensity fuels may be increasingly important in serving that market gap.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Currently, most vehicles on the road are built to run on traditional gas and diesel. U.S. infrastructure supports that, and analysts expect it will likely take years to adopt and install new systems. In the meantime, lowering the carbon intensity of existing vehicles can help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking at the Reuters Automotive USA 2023 conference in Detroit, Michigan, Kaustav Sinha, Chevron’s director of strategic partnerships, noted that drop-in fuels, such as renewable gasoline blends and renewable diesel, can work with internal combustion engines and existing fuel infrastructure. That makes them a viable, scalable, lower carbon option that preserves customer choice, while helping make a difference in lowering carbon intensity.

Collaborating with public and private organizations can encourage scaling up the distribution and use of renewable gasoline blends and biofuels. Working together can result in policies and incentives that favor the switch to lower carbon intensity fuels.

One example includes Chevron’s use of biofeedstocks (generally, plant-based oils) at one of its refineries. The company’s El Segundo Refinery became the first fluid catalytic cracker in the United States to produce renewable fuels. With its acquisition of Renewable Energy Group in 2022, Chevron became one of the largest producers of biodiesel and renewable diesel in the U.S. 

Reducing the carbon intensity of transportation will take many different paths, Sinha said. And these drop-in fuels represent one of the options.