UK's first sustainable petrol for classic cars goes on sale for £3.80 a litre

The UK’s first sustainable fuel for classic cars has gone on public sale, including a special version for racing and performance models.

The Sustain Classic biofuel has been created by British firm Coryton specifically for older engines but the firm says it can be used in any petrol car. 

The second-generation biofuel is made from agricultural waste, with three different formulations. The firm says it can deliver greenhouse gas savings of between 25% and 65% compared with traditional fossil fuels. 

Using straw and other by-products or waste from crops which wouldn’t be used for consumption, the firm says the fuel “utilises carbon that already exists in our atmosphere, which the plants absorb as they grow, recycling it, rather than releasing additional CO2 that is currently locked underground in fossil fuel”.

The fuel ranges from 98RON octane to 102RON and has a less than 1% bioethanol content in order to help preserve older vehicles. There are concerns that the now-standard E10 unleaded, which contains up to 10% bioethanol, could damage the engine and fuel systems of older cars. 

The Sustain Classic also contains additives intended to clean and protect engines. But it’s not cheap, with the “entry-level” Super 33, which contains 33% renewable content, costing £3.80 per litre from the fuel’s single stockist. It offers a 25% reducing in CO2 compared with regular unleaded.

The Super 80 which, as the name suggests, is made from 80% renewable content, offers the highest CO2 savings - 65% - and costs £4.65 per litre, while the 102RON Race 50 formulation has been specifically formulated for older performance vehicles, offering a 35% CO2 cut and costing £5.24 per litre. 

Currently, the fuel is only sold at Motor Spirit at Bicester Heritage but Coryton says it intends to roll it out at other stockists around the country in the coming months. Its makers say that they are setting “realistic” goals for addressing carbon emissions while meeting drivers’ needs, making running a classic more sustainable. 

David Richardson, the firm’s business development director at Coryton explained: “Every kilogram of CO2 we avoid adding to our atmosphere, by replacing fossil fuel with sustainable fuel, is a win. We don’t instantly have to go for the full switch to start making a genuine impact. 

“As more feedstocks become available, these fuels will start to contain even higher levels of traceable sustainable elements. However, we want to keep things as affordable as possible for consumers and be open about what's actually achievable at the moment. 

 “The availability of true fossil free fuel components is limited. So, we’re setting truthful and realistic goals, producing fuels that have a meaningful impact whilst meeting the demands of the user. 

“While we could use ‘mass balancing’ techniques to certify this fuel as 100%, we believe that it is important to be open about technology readiness and traceability. The industry will get there with the right support - which is why we think it’s important to start getting these products into the hands of consumers so they can see how easy and effective the switch could be.”

There is debate about whether synthetic e-fuels could allow car makers to continue producing combustion engines, especially for performance vehicles. Brands including Porsche and Ferrari are exploring the technology and in March Germany persuaded the European Commission to allow a loophole in its 2035 combustion ban for vehicles that can run on carbon-neutral fuels.

Unlike Coryton’s product, which use bio by-products, these are created using captured CO2 and “green” hydrogen produced using carbon-neutral electricity. Supporters say that while the fuels still create CO2 emissions they are equal to or less than the carbon taken out of the atmosphere in their production. They argue that the fuels can be used in existing vehicles, so not every car will have to be replaced with an EV and say they are better suited to heavy industry such as haulage and aviation.

However, opponents argue that the fuels are hugely complex and energy intensive to produce, would be hard to produce at a commercial scale and still release other pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide into the atmosphere.