Claas has approved the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) in all its self-propelled machines with engines that meet the latest Stage V emissions standards.

The company has also announced that going forward all tractors and harvesting machines will be filled with this sustainable biofuel before they leave the factory, so saving, they say, 2,500 tonnes of CO2 a year.

HVO consists mainly of used cooking oil and animal fats, along with vegetable oils, and has several advantages in that it does not require any engine upgrades, and can even be used in conjunction with conventional diesel fuel, so does not require any special storage facilities. Performance in terms of power, wear, durability or engine lifetime say Claas, is similar but over the entire life cycle of the engine, CO2 emissions can be reduced by up to 90%.

The manufacturer says that currently, for a high horsepower engine there are no realistic alternatives to fossil fuels. While battery-power offers advantages for low power engines, for a machine such as a Jaguar forage harvester, to drive it using battery power, yet achieve the same level of performance and range currently possible using fossil fuel, would result in a machine that is twice the size and weight to the current model.