Running refuse lorries on waste oils could increase fuel costs by £30k annually
02/09/2025
The electricity grid in Banbury couldn’t cope with charging electric vehicles
Cherwell District Council is looking to spend an extra £30,000 a year on vehicle fuel in an effort to reduce its emissions by switching its refuse lorry fleet to run on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil fuel rather than standard diesel.
Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil – known as HVO – is made from vegetable and other waste oils and has equivalent net CO2 emissions up to 90 percent lower than standard diesel. However, none is made in the UK and so has to be imported and it costs around 10 – 12 pence per litre more than diesel.
In 2023 – 24 emissions from the Council’s vehicle fleet were around 1400 tonnes, with the lorries accounting for over 80 percent of this.
The move to HVO comes as the council comes to terms with a number of issues which are stopping it from moving its lorries to electric vehicles. These include a lack of availability of suitable options with what is available costing over twice the price of a diesel vehicle. Crucially the electricity grid would not be able to provide enough power to charge the vehicles.
Similar problems led to West Northamptonshire Council abandoning its plans to electrify its refuse lorries fleet.
Cherwell sees the move to HVO as temporary for up to five years whilst it watches how the situation with large electric vehicles changes.
Members of the council’s Executive will tonight decide whether to approve the plan.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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