A 12-month trial of more than 600 BMW and MINI diesel cars across four countries recorded HVO use in more than 80 percent of refuelling events, the BMW Group says. The carmaker argues the interim results show that a ‘VEEF-only’ vehicle category can work in practice without changes to the cars or the fuel stations.

A year of real-world refuelling data

The BMW Group has published the first interim results from its HVO test and demonstration fleet. The fleet is a joint project with partners, set up to show that it is possible to verify which fuel a car has been filled with. The fleet was launched in October 2025 at the Fleet Europe Days trade show in Luxembourg. Since then, more than 600 BMW and MINI vehicles with diesel engines have been in daily use in the company fleets of the BMW Group and Bosch in Germany, Eni in Italy and Repsol in Spain.

The project centres on a proposed vehicle category called “VEEF”, short for “Vehicles Exclusively running on Eligible Fuels”. The idea is that cars with combustion engines could be recognised as running only on renewable fuels, as long as their fuel use can be verified.

How the fuel is tracked

According to the BMW Group, each car records data about every refuelling. This is checked against the fleet operator’s payment records. For part of the fleet, it is also checked against fuel station data from Bosch’s Digital Fuel Twin. Because the fuel type is confirmed through several digital channels, the system can show which fuel went into each car. The BMW Group stores all refuelling transactions and fuel-type data centrally.

The interim figures

The company reports these results after 12 months:

  • More than 5,500 refuelling events were recorded across more than 600 vehicles, with the type of fuel correctly identified each time.
  • Around 235,000 litres (about 62,000 US gallons) of HVO were used.
  • HVO was verifiably used in more than 80 percent of refuelling events.

The trial also benefited from HVO becoming easier to find in Europe. According to the hvo100map.com data cited by BMW, 6,130 fuel stations offered HVO as of October.

“The results speak for themselves: During this period, we were able to consistently document more than 5,500 refueling events with a HVO usage rate exceeding 80 percent. And this was achieved without any hardware modifications to the vehicles and without new infrastructure at the gas stations. We therefore consider the technical feasibility of a “VEEF-only” fleet to be proven.”

That is the view of Dr Martin Kaufmann, SVP Powertrain Development at the BMW Group. He added that the outcome “sends a strong signal to policymakers to promote technology openness and to set the course for the future and resilience of the industry – especially in Europe.”

HVO already used at the factory gate

Since January 2025, every BMW Group diesel model built in Germany has been filled with unblended HVO before delivery to dealers. The fuel is Neste MY Renewable Diesel from the Finnish producer Neste, used at the Dingolfing, Regensburg and Leipzig plants. BMW says it cuts CO2e emissions by up to 90 percent on a well-to-wheel basis compared with fossil diesel. In Italy, BMW Italia gives an Enilive HVO voucher to every private buyer of a new BMW diesel.

The BMW Group says its diesel engines are certified for HVO to EN 15940, and for B10 and eFuels to EN 590. Its petrol engines are certified for E20/25 and eFuels to EN 228.

Petrol is next

The company supports the political push to approve E20 petrol across Europe. It sees E20 as an important way to raise the renewable share of petrol, both for cars already on the road and for a future VEEF fleet. Since July 2026, the BMW Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Repsol and Bosch have run a pilot in Spain that tests exclusive use of Repsol’s ‘Nexa 95’ petrol. Around 20 BMW, MINI and Toyota petrol cars are taking part in the Greater Madrid area. As with the diesel fleet, the aim is to verify fuel use without gaps.

What it means

The trial is part of a wider industry argument that renewable fuels should be recognised alongside electrification in European CO2 rules. In March 2026, BMW AG published a study together with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) and FREYBERGER engineering. The study looks at how much bio-based renewable fuel could be available for EU road transport in 2030, 2035 and 2040. Whether regulators will create a VEEF category is still a political decision. BMW’s data mainly shows that the verification technology works.

Facts: BMW Group HVO test and demo fleet

  • Vehicles: more than 600 BMW and MINI diesel models
  • Countries: Germany, Italy, Spain (fleets of the BMW Group, Bosch, Eni, Repsol)
  • Period: 12 months since launch in October 2025
  • Refuelling events recorded: more than 5,500
  • HVO used: approx. 235,000 litres (about 62,000 US gallons)
  • HVO usage rate: more than 80 percent of refuelling events
  • Vehicle or station modifications: none, according to BMW

The HVO fleet is still running, and the Spanish petrol pilot began in July 2026.

Source: www.press.bmwgroup.com