Poor quality green fuels are damaging truck engines, costing hauliers thousands of euro for repairs while adding millions to their energy bills, according to the industry.
Government rules demand that renewable fuel must be blended with diesel to help cut road transport greenhouse gas emissions. However, truckers warn that poor quality renewable fuel is damaging engines, leaving companies with repair bills of up to €20,000 per vehicle.
At the same time, hauliers estimate that the rules add about €56 million a year to the industry’s fuel costs as the renewables produce less energy, so companies must buy more diesel to cover the same number of kilometres.
A study by the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), which represents the Republic’s key commercial transport businesses, last year found that almost one in four samples fell below the European EN 590 standard that road diesel must meet.
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Laboratories found that a further 20 per cent of samples were of borderline quality, the association says.
An independent company, JHG Analytical Services, carried out the tests and compared samples collected in the Republic with those from elsewhere in the European Union.
Its experts found that all failed and borderline samples were Irish, while those from outside the State passed the various tests.
According to an IRHA spokesman renewable fuel samples contained more animal fats than they should.
This substance is readily available in the Republic, but too much of it damages engines by clogging up their filters among other problems.
Truck companies have to pay between €15,000 and €20,000 for repairs as a consequence, according to the hauliers’ spokesman.
He also pointed out that if businesses are using diesel that does not meet the EN 590 standard, manufacturers may not honour warranties on their trucks’ engines, as they require the fuel used to meet this benchmark.
The Government’s renewable transport fuels obligation requires petrol and diesel supplied to Irish motorists to be 21 per cent renewable.
The National Oil Reserves Agency (Nora) oversees the scheme, but hauliers say that no government or State body supervises the actual quality of the fuel sold here.
The IRHA spokesman noted that several government bodies had some role to play regarding the supply of motor fuels, including the Nora, the departments of environment and transport, Revenue and Environmental Protection Agency. “But no one wants to take any responsibility,” he added. “There is a need for the State to take ownership of this.”
The hauliers have raised the issue with the Government and its agencies but they have failed to come up with any solution for policing the quality of fuel sold to the businesses it represents.
Diesel-fuelled trucks and heavy vehicles transport goods in, out and around the Republic, so they are its economy’s workhorses, the IRHA pointed out.
Renewable transport fuels come from various sources, including processed used cooking oil and other waste, as well as from various plants. Government is coming under increasing fire for poor supervision of the renewable transport fuels obligation.
A Department of Transport spokeswoman confirmed that the haulage group had raised the issue with it. It brought trucker’s concerns to the fuels industry.
“It is the department’s understanding that the industry and the road hauliers are in ongoing engagement on this issue,” she added.
The spokeswoman noted that her organisation and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications were assessing how to ensure motor fuel met quality standards. She pointed out that the Department Environment, Climate and Communications oversaw testing of fuels to ensure compliance with air quality rules.
“This directive does not cover all elements of fuel quality,” the spokeswoman acknowledged.
The EN 590 standard demands that diesel sold as motor fuel has certain physical and chemical properties.
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