Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport ground vehicles to run entirely on 100% renewable diesel

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Soon, all ground handling vehicles on the apron at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will refuel using 100 percent renewable diesel.

Using this fuel means a 98 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

“The renewable diesel will be used as an intermediate solution until all vehicles run on electricity or hydrogen and are emission-free,” the airport stated. “Parties in the aviation sector continue to work on reaching that goal by 2030.”

KLM Equipment Services, the fuel supplier for all vehicles on the apron, will be delivering renewable diesel instead of gas-to-liquid (GTL) as of Jan. 1.

“HVO100,” which stands for 100 percent hydrotreated vegetable oil, also known as renewable diesel, is a fossil-free alternative whose properties are comparable to those of GTL and fossil diesel, so modifications to the diesel engines are not necessary.

Neste Corp. is supplying the renewable diesel.

“This is a significant step on the way towards a zero-emission ground operation in 2030,” said Denise Pronk, responsible for sustainability at Royal Schiphol Group. “The vehicles for which there are currently no electric or hydrogen alternatives available can run on HVO100. Everyone on airside is making use of it, including Aviapartner, dnata, Menzies, Swissport, KLM Ground Services and Viggo. We’re pleased about that. It’s also important that we all continue to expand the number of electric vehicles at Schiphol. We are also going to considerably expand the number of charging stations.”

Paul Feldbrugge, responsible for the zero-emission program within KES, added, “At the moment, 40 percent of the motorized equipment at the airport runs on electricity. And that number will increase over the coming years. However, for a number of specialist heavy vehicles it is a technical challenge to develop a battery with sufficient capacity that can also be charged quickly enough. This is therefore a good intermediate solution.”