Toyota Motor Europe, BMW Group, Bosch and Repsol have started a six-month pilot in Spain to show that ordinary petrol cars can run on 100% renewable gasoline today. Around 20 Toyota and BMW vehicles are fuelling up on Repsol’s Nexa 95 while Bosch’s digital system tracks every litre. The partners say the project is meant to prove that renewable fuels can scale up now, using cars and filling stations that already exist.

Four names not often seen on the same press release — Toyota, BMW, Bosch and Repsol — have joined forces on a real-world experiment in Spain. The goal is to demonstrate that today’s combustion cars can run exclusively on 100% renewable gasoline, without any new hardware or special infrastructure.

The pilot began in early July 2026 and runs for six months. It puts a fleet of roughly 20 Toyota and BMW cars on the road, all fuelled by Repsol’s Nexa 95 renewable gasoline and monitored by Bosch’s digital fuel-tracking technology. The partners describe the cars as “Vehicles running Exclusively on Eligible Fuels” (VEEF), a term the fuel and car industries use for models that only burn renewable or low-carbon fuels meeting EU sustainability rules.

A drop-in fuel, not a new car

The central claim is that no special vehicle is needed. Toyota España is supplying existing Toyota and Lexus passenger cars, while BMW contributes fleet vehicles, and according to the companies these run on Nexa 95 without modification. Repsol says its fuel is produced from feedstocks compliant with the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and delivers significant greenhouse-gas reductions compared with fossil petrol, while staying fully compatible with today’s engines and pumps.

Repsol is, by its own account, currently the only company selling 100% renewable gasoline at public service stations in Spain — one of the reasons the country was chosen for the trial, alongside strong partner collaboration and Toyota España’s operational support.

Tracking every litre

The technical backbone of the pilot is Bosch’s “Digital Fuel Twin.” The system pulls together refuelling data from several sources — the vehicles themselves, the fuel stations and fuel-card transactions — to certify that renewable fuel really was used, across the fuel’s full lifecycle.

“With our ‘Digital Fuel Twin,’ Bosch is bringing full digital transparency to the entire fuel value chain to reliably track and verify the renewable fuels from the moment they enter the market right down to the end consumer,” the company says, adding that real-time monitoring on individual vehicles is meant to build “the foundation of trust and regulatory compliance” for wider acceptance of renewable fuels.

A message aimed at Brussels

The project is openly framed as an input to European policy. With EU rules currently centred on electrification and a 2035 target for 100% zero-emission new cars, the partners argue that renewable fuels deserve a place as a complementary, “technology-neutral” route to cutting CO₂. They warn that the 2035 zero-emission goal may not be fully met, and suggest renewable fuels — especially paired with hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains — could help bridge the gap for both new and existing cars.

Data and interim findings will be shared with EU policymakers, industry stakeholders and media, feeding into the debate over whether VEEF cars should be recognised in future regulation.

What it means

For buyers, nothing changes overnight: this is a demonstration, not a product launch, and the fuel is available at scale only in Spain for now. But the pilot is a clear signal that parts of the industry want to keep combustion engines relevant beyond 2035 by changing what goes in the tank rather than replacing the car. Whether regulators are persuaded will depend, in part, on the evidence this fleet produces over the coming months.

The trial runs through the end of 2026, with results expected to be published as it progresses.

Source: newsroom.toyota.eu