On a recent episode of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, Matt McLelland, VP of sustainability and innovation at Covenant, and Colin Huwyler, CEO of Optimus Technologies, spoke with FreightWaves’ Timothy Dooner about the impact of biodiesel and what the election results mean for clean fuels.
Optimus Technologies builds fuel systems upgrades, including hardware and software that integrate onto existing engines or are installed on newly manufactured trucks. After the upgrade, the engines are able to run on 100% biodiesel (B100), which is a vegetable oil or animal fat-based replacement for diesel fuel.
“At the same time, we’re never inhibiting those engines from running on traditional diesel, so from a business perspective it provides resiliency,” Huwyler says. He adds that the optionality allows fleets to continue to operate and deliver loads without disruption.
For McLelland, one of the reasons Covenant is running a pilot program comes from Optimus Technologies’ experience with PepsiCo within its large private fleet that is running over 200 trucks on Optimus Technologies’ solution.
McLelland noted one challenge traditionally associated with biodiesel is that when the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, biodiesel starts to coagulate. A breakthrough for Optimus Technologies was overcoming the temperature challenge, allowing biodiesel to operate in colder temperatures.
Huwyler gives an example of a customer from Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, which received units and is testing them in temperatures consistently below freezing. “Those trucks are going to be operating in Edmonton [on a route] to Fort McMurray, which is consistently at negative 35 to negative 40 degrees.”
Before launching the Edmonton project, Huwyler noted the customer took one of the trucks and sent it to a cold chamber to test and validate that the unit could withstand cold temperatures. “We were able to test and validate down to that negative 40-degree temperature that [there was] no impact [and] no operational challenges using biodiesel.”
To tackle the cold, Optimus uses waste heat that the diesel engine generates to condition the fuel while also having the ability through its software to switch between diesel and biodiesel on the fly.
McLelland adds, “It’s the only solution I’ve seen so far that has the maximum amount of carbon reduction for the minimum investment.” He says that compared to other types of renewable diesel, such as drop fuel, which contains 60% carbon emissions, the advantage of Optimus’ system is the ability to run 99% biodiesel.
The nuance is important, especially for fleets whose customers are concerned over the carrier’s scope 1 and by extension the customers’ scope 3 emissions.
With biodiesel being made with compounds like animal fats and vegetable oils, “the fuel itself is a liquid carbon molecule but that source of energy comes essentially from solar energy,” said Huwyler.
Huwyler explains that this is possible through photosynthesis, by translating that solar energy into plant material which is then harvested and refined into biodiesel. Biodiesel is an energy-dense liquid fuel whose origin is ultimately solar energy. This creates a closed loop cycle where the carbon in the atmosphere is captured by the plant then emitted when you’re using the truck.
Huwyler adds that a lack of complexity is an added bonus compared to electric vehicles, which are traditionally powered by coal or natural gas. If renewables are used to power electric vehicles, like solar panels to turn sunlight into electricity, they require massive batteries and new charging infrastructure. Range, costs associated with infrastructure and weight concerns are added headwinds compared to using biodiesel.
“Our approach is to build a successful business case, and allow customers to decarbonize, without impacting their bottom line operations,” said Huwyler.
Asked about the recent presidential election results and what that means for biodiesel, Huwyler is optimistic in part due to the reliance of other fuel sources on government subsidies. “Generally speaking, our customers aren’t getting large subsidies or government incentives to deploy our technology because it’s cost-effective.”
He adds, “The biggest, most dramatic thing that we’re going to see is an unwinding of a lot of these major policies and major incentives that have propped up the electrification and hydrogen world.”
With less projected focus on electrification if incentives and grants are removed, there remains a demand for reducing carbon emissions from customers. Overall, Huwyler believes it will be a net benefit for other decarbonization solutions, including Optimus and its focus on biodiesel.
To learn more about Optimus Technologies, visit optimustec.com.
