The ban on selling new internal-combustion cars in Europe by 2035 seemed to spell the end of the story. For many motorists, the plot looked simple: tomorrow it would be electric cars or nothing.
Behind the scenes, however, some manufacturers are working on a different script, where the internal combustion engine would survive only if it runs exclusively on renewable fuels. This is precisely the path BMW has chosen with its VEEF category, for “Vehicles Exclusively Running on Eligible Fuels,” tested in real-world conditions with more than 600 vehicles running on HVO in Europe. A highly political question remains: will these results be enough to defend a place for combustion engines after 2035 within the European framework?
2035, VEEF and Renewable Fuels: the Card BMW Wants to Play
The European Union’s CO2 emissions regulation requires that, from 2035 onward, new cars on the market must emit 0 g of CO2 per kilometer in use. Battery electric vehicles naturally meet this criterion, while gasoline and diesel engines do not, even with decarbonized fuels. European institutions are therefore studying a specific category of thermal vehicles that run exclusively on so-called “eligible” fuels, counted at 0 g/km if the use of these fuels is continuously proven.
This is precisely the core of BMW’s approach. In October 2025, at the “Fleet Europe Days” show in Luxembourg, the automaker launched an HVO/VEEF test and demonstration fleet. More than 600 BMW and MINI diesel vehicles were deployed in fleets owned by BMW and Bosch in Germany, Eni in Italy, and Repsol in Spain, with a clear objective: to demonstrate that a fleet of “vehicles functioning exclusively with eligible fuels” can be tracked and controlled in real life, without changing the vehicles or the gas stations.
A fleet of more than 600 BMWs on HVO to prove VEEF feasibility
At the heart of the program is digital fueling traceability. Refueling data recorded by each vehicle are cross-checked with fleet-management payment systems and, for a portion of the cars, with station data drawn from Bosch’s Digital Fuel Twin. The BMW Group condenses this approach with a key message: “We want to systematically unlock the CO2-reduction potential offered by renewable fuels in Europe. To do this, our team has developed a technical solution tested in real-world conditions across four countries and more than 600 vehicles over the past 12 months. The results speak for themselves: during this period, we documented more than 5,500 fill-ups with a HVO usage rate above 80%. And all of this was achieved without any hardware changes to the vehicles and without new infrastructure at gas stations. We therefore regard the technical feasibility of a ‘VEEF-only’ fleet as demonstrated. This sends a strong signal to policymakers to promote technological openness and set the course for the industry’s future and resilience, particularly in Europe.”,
explains Dr. Martin Kaufmann, SVP Powertrain Development of the BMW Group, in a BMW Group press release.
Over twelve months, the collected numbers illustrate the demonstration. More than 5,500 fill-ups were recorded across more than 600 vehicles, with around 235,000 liters of HVO distributed. In more than 80% of fueling instances, the fuel used was HVO, verifiable through the digital chain. BMW notes that this experience relies on growing HVO availability at the pump: as of October 2026, this fuel is offered at 6,130 stations in Europe, including more than 1,700 within the Enilive network, without any new dedicated installations.
Nexa 95, European Study and BMW’s Post-2035 Outlook for Internal Combustion
BMW’s strategy isn’t limited to diesel. The group also highlights the compatibility of its engines with other renewable fuels: HVO according to EN 15940, B10 and e-fuels meeting EN 590 for diesels, but also E20/E25 and e-fuels according to EN 228 for gasoline engines. Since January 2025, all diesel models produced in Germany leave the Dingolfing, Regensburg, and Leipzig plants with a first unblended HVO fill, of the “Neste MY Renewable Diesel™” type, which, according to BMW, can reduce CO2e up to 90% across the full well-to-wheel cycle versus fossil diesel.
On gasoline engines, a pilot project began in July 2026 in Spain, with Toyota Motor Europe, Repsol, and Bosch. About twenty BMW, MINI, and Toyota gasoline-powered vehicles then operate exclusively on the 100% renewable fuel “Nexa 95” in the Madrid metropolitan area, using the same digital monitoring principle as the HVO fleet. In parallel, BMW signals support for the European-wide adoption of an E20 fuel, presented as a lever to boost the share of renewable components in gasoline, for both the current fleet and a future VEEF gasoline fleet.
To back this advocacy, the BMW Group partnered with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ), and Freyberger Engineering on a study published in March 2026, titled “From Feedstock to Fossil-Free Mobility: Europe’s Potential for a Renewable Fuels Market”. The study’s summary sets the stage: “Transforming the entire transport sector toward petroleum-free energy sources is a challenge that cannot be met by electrifying powertrains alone. It is therefore essential to harness the CO2 reduction potential of all energy sources. The emphasis here, in addition to hydrogen, is primarily on liquid fuels that can be integrated into the supply infrastructure without technical modifications. Renewable fuels, called carbon-neutral fuels (CNF), are a generic term that encompasses all fuels with a carbon footprint lower than fossil fuels. This study examines the substitution potential of advanced renewable fuels derived from biological feedstocks versus fossil fuels across all sectors of the European Union. Based on current scientific literature and various scenarios, this study analyzes the availability of advanced feedstocks, their conversion into renewable fuels, and the evolution of fuel demand in the EU road transport sector for target years 2030, 2035 and 2040.”, summarizes the study’s synthesis.
BMW emphasizes this study and its HVO and Nexa 95 demonstrations to argue that mobility decarbonization will not come solely from electrification, and that combustion-engine vehicles powered exclusively by renewable fuels could be recognized at 0 g/km in future EU standards within the VEEF category. Regulatory discussions continue in Brussels over the precise conditions for such recognition and the role these fuels could play given production constraints, costs, and competition with other sectors. No details are provided on this topic in the documents supplied by the BMW Group.
