The SK-Bioride project was launched by the Slovak transport company Yellow Express in 2021 as a pilot initiative to examine the possibilities of immediately introducing renewable fuels into freight transport. The first step was the deployment of a Scania truck adapted to run on 100% B100 biodiesel, which does not need to be mixed with fossil diesel. We monitored the vehicle in standard commercial operation: During the first year, it covered nearly 94,700 km, with an average consumption of 29.5 l/100 km, or 0.82 l/t*100 km. The tests confirmed a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 70%.

First results confirmed that the truck did not require unscheduled service, and operating it was comparable to vehicles powered by B7 diesel. This success created space for expanding the project into other segments, from testing B20 fuel in agricultural tractors and combined harvesters, through a corporate fleet of passenger cars running on B30 fuel, to our (literally) largest experiment—a ČKD 740 locomotive weighing over 70 tons, which ran on B100 for more than a year of testing. Each of these projects monitored technical parameters, fuel consumption, component lifecycle, and impact on emissions. Their goal was to verify the competitiveness of higher biodiesel blends in practice.

We expanded the SK-Bioride project into rail transport in 2024, with the ČKD locomotive running on B100 fuel until 2025. Tests showed trouble-free operation, with the only technical complication occurring after ten months of operation: the rubber sealing on the injectors degraded, to be later replaced with a more resistant material. The locomotive travelled 7,200 km, consuming 32,243 litres of B100 fuel and saving 52 tons of CO₂.

During the monitored period, more than 220,000 litres of B7 and B20 diesel were used, significantly contributing to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in transport. Compared to conventional B7 diesel, B20 fuel can reduce emissions by more than 9% per liter, while B30 saves up to 15%. In practice, this is an easily accessible and cost-effective solution for decarbonizing road transport, which has also proven itself in real-world operations.

Over the years, SK-Bioride has transformed into a reference platform that, through technical data and long-term monitoring, confirms that modern biofuels are an immediately available, sustainable, and fully functional solution for multiple transport segments. It helps demonstrate the real potential of biofuels in reducing emissions and sustainably renewing vehicle fleets across the entire Slovak transportation sector.