Photo credit: Surrey County Council

Surrey’s 39 gritters will trial running on treated vegetable oil  fuel from this week.

The vehicles will run environmentally friendly Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel as part of Surrey County Council’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. 

The HVO fuel reduces the carbon produced from combustion engines by up to 90%. Over the course of the winter season, Surrey’s gritters will use around 30,000 litres of fuel and by switching to treated vegetable oil rather than diesel, the carbon produced from gritting activities will be reduced by around 102 tonnes.