With Formula 1 set to transition to sustainable fuel next year and Porsche working on e-fuel technology, some hypothesise that sustainable fuels could allow existing internal combustion (ICE) vehicles to significantly lower their carbon footprint. Sustainable fuels are already used by some classic car owners – but will average buyers shun electric vehicles in favour of sustainably-fuelled ICE cars? 

To find out, Motor Trade News spoke with David Richardson, business development director at Coryton, about the role of sustainable fuels in the future of motoring. 

Richardson is a founding member of Coryton and has over 20 years’ experience in the fuel sector. The business has traditionally focused on business customers and research and development for large fuel companies, but it now provides a range of consumer-grade sustainable fuel products, sold through the Sustain brand.

Richardson says: “The sector was introduced to us via one of the bigger organisations in the UK, the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA), which asked us if we could help out with an image issue that they had. The perceived issue was around classic car collectors using older vehicles that were potentially polluting.”  

Richardson says that many classic car buyers have the means to purchase sustainable fuels, and annual mileages are so low that cost is not as much of a barrier. 

“We developed some sustainable fuels for the classic car sector,” he explains. “The reason why we were specifically developing for that sector was because we’re looking at the protection efforts. A lot of classic cars don’t like modern fuels, so we design these fuels that mimic some of the chemistry you might have had in in those vehicles in the bygone era.” 

Sustain then launched Europe’s first sustainable petrol pump for consumers, at Bicester Heritage, which sells Sustain’s Classic Super 80 product, containing 80% sustainable content, and crucially for classic cars, less than 1% ethanol. 

By the end of June 2025, Coryton hopes to launch an additional four pumps across the UK. 

Currently, sustainable fuel costs considerably more than regular petrol, with distributor Motor Spirit at Bicester Heritage selling Classic Super 80 for £5.95 per litre.  

The cost of production is a factor in this, but so is regulation, as consumers still required to pay Fuel Excise Duty. 

Richardson says: “The main thing that we look for is for sustainable liquid fuels to be given the same prominence, and the same incentives, and tax credits as everything else.” 

When an electricity company uses the same biomass used by Coryton, it receives tax credits. Further incentives apply when this is used to power an EV, as there is no vehicle excise duty. 

He adds: “If I put those same feedstocks into a car, through a slightly different process, of course, I’ll get no incentive to do it. I get no tax credits, and actually I get taxed very heavily on Fuel Excise Duty, and I get taxed very heavily then on VAT. What we’re looking for is for all the technologies to be given a level playing field.” 

The production process 

Sustain uses biomass to synthesise the fuel using organic waste matter, Richardson explains: “Biomass relies on Mother Nature to do all the heavy lifting for it; it’s absorbed all the carbon dioxide, all the carbon monoxide out of the environment through photosynthesis. It’s got carbon locked away, it’s got hydrogen locked away, and it’s got oxygen locked away.  

“That’s great, because it means that we can fairly easily convert that biomass into a liquid, that we can then turn into fuel at a refinery.” 

The biomass process allows for low energy consumption in the production process, whereas the alternative, carbon capture, often referred to as ‘e-fuel’, is much more energy intensive. 

“You’re effectively relying on large vacuum cleaners, for want of a better term, to suck the carbon out the environment,” Richardson says. 

“You have to put quite a lot of energy into running those facilities. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you’re powering them with renewable energy. A lot of the plants that are working on these technologies are looking at using solar, geothermal, hydropower, and wind power.” 

Plants in Iceland using geothermal power, or plants using solar power in the desert, to produce e-fuels, can claim to be sustainable, as the electricity used is renewable. 

He adds: “They can fit really well in certain markets. At the moment, purely because of availability, we are we concentrating on the biomass aspect of it.”

Is hydrogen combustion a better solution? 

While sustainable fuels can reduce the environmental impact of internal combustion engines (ICE), some companies – such as Toyota – have also begun testing hydrogen combustion technology. Some cars are already sold with hydrogen fuel cells, but these are more similar in concept to electric vehicles (EVs) than ICE cars.  

As hydrogen gas is not particularly energy dense, it needs to be compressed to give hydrogen vehicles any range, requiring very different infrastructure to traditional petrol stations.

Richardson says: “It has its place in fleets, like Amazon and DHL, where you’ve got vehicles always going back to the same base, where they can be refuelled.”

However, David is less optimistic about hydrogen combustion’s future in passenger cars. 

“I don’t necessarily see it as being a long-term viability,” he says. “It will complement the overall pool of pool of vehicles that are on the roads today, but I think it will be in a certain segment as we have today.” 

Will this be sold at fuel stations? 

Aside from a few pumps, sustainable fuel is currently not widely available. While similar products have made some headway in aviation, the typical ICE car owner is unlikely to have ever filled up with sustainable fuel. 

Richardson says: “We are not a company that’s going to be supplying hundreds of thousands of forecourts all over the UK with several fuels. That’s not our niche, we’re specialist fuel blenders. Our margins have to be higher because of the work we put into it.” 

Coryton has already worked with major fuel companies, assisting with research and development, as well as limited trials on forecourts.

Richardson says: “Those major oil companies, over time, will start to introduce sustainable chemistries into the mainstream fuel pool, but I think they’re probably a little bit further off that mark at the moment. They are frankly just more expensive, and we know that the public are not willing to pay the delta between what these fuels cost. Today, we’re very much concentrating on the niche markets like motorsport, the classic car sector, and what we call stranded asset sectors.”

‘Stranded Asset sectors’, such as film productions, are difficult to electrify, due to their reliance on generators, and often remote locations. Sustainable fuels allow these industries to reduce their environmental impact.  

Richardson says: “The reason the classic car sector is willing to do this is because those vehicles do very, very little mileage per year. The overall cost over the course of a year for a user isn’t a great deal. As opposed to families that do maybe a 300 or 400 mile drive to go on a holiday or something like that. It’s just not practical for them to do it.” 

What can we do when EVs are not viable? 

While EVs are improving rapidly, with multiple models now touting 400 mile ranges, they still do not suit every use case.

“There is this misconception that the only way to de-fossilise the transport industry is to go down the electric route, because it’s not,” Richardson says.

“There are many other ways of doing that. Keeping the internal combustion engine really is a necessity, because there aren’t enough resources for electrification at the moment, especially the way it’s being done currently. There are a number of industries that will not be able to rely on it, like the emergency services and the military.  

“There is this understanding that internal combustion is going to be around for a long time, which then gives investors confidence that the technologies have a long-term future. They can then put the money in to help build the plants up, to scale it up, and that in turn will help bring the pricing down.”

The Government remains firm on its plan to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2030. However, the small-volume exemption to the ZEV mandate could be where sustainable fuels make their mark, with high-end, high-performance vehicles using the fuels to lower their environmental footprint.  

This could also enable the preservation of historic vehicles owned by collectors and enthusiasts for future generations to appreciate.

Richardson concludes: “We are looking at building a new, sustainable and refining industry, where existing infrastructure can continue to be used, which is very useful. Our goal is to help the entire fuel industry move away from fossil fuels.”