gasoline

Gasoline prices are rising so much that a new subsidy is in the air. And her employers already reject her

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The sum of all numbers in a data set divided by the count of those numbers. This is how the arithmetic mean is defined, probably the most used statistical value. A first approximation to a story but it is by no means definitive. And the average tells us a small part of what happens. How is it turning out with the price of gasoline. Has gasoline gone up? The data They say yes but they are disparate. According to the portal dieselgasolina.com which monitors the price of Spanish gas stations, 95 gasoline has increased by two cents since yesterday and today it is purchased for 1.58 euros per liter. Diesel equals it in price and in this case it has increased by four cents. But the drivers’ feelings are very different.. Just a quick review of this map of eldiario.es in which the increase in the price of each service station is recorded. It clearly reflects that prices have risen where there is more population or in large mobility corridors, such as the most frequented highways. It is easy to find increases in gasoline to 1.70 euros/liter and diesel to even 1.80 euros per liter. With variations in the last week of more than 10%. That is, increases of more than 10 cents/liter in the last week. The average growth, therefore, is marked by other gas stations that have not changed their prices due to less frequent renewals. Click on the image to go to the original map. Source: eldiario.es The noise of the subsidy The rise in gasoline prices and, above all, diesel, which continues to be the vast majority in the Spanish vehicle fleet, has caused talk again about the application of a purchase subsidy by the Government. In March 2022, after a transport strikethe Government agreed subsidize the sale of gasoline and diesel to the final consumer with 20 cents/liter. Of those 20 cents, 15 were paid by the State and the remaining five cents were paid by the gas stations. Then, the price of both fuels was around 1.80 euros/liter and recovered them again despite the State’s efforts. That is to say, the subsidy somewhat alleviated the purchase of fuel but It certainly didn’t help curb prices.. Yet, In Portugal the aid reached 40 cents/liter and in Poland reduced VAT as a means to reduce the price. The situation does not invite optimism. Carriers are already beginning to complain the Government to implement an aid package to alleviate a situation that everything indicates will become even more complicated. Nacho Rabadán, general director of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers (CEEES), described COPE the situation as “a black week for service stations”, ensuring that businessmen are eating part of the increase in costs from the rise in oil. However, CEEES has already informed the Government that they do not count on them if a new subsidy has to be applied to the purchase of fuel. They collect in The Independent that the association has sent a letter to the Executive and they rescue Rabadán’s words in which he assures that “in 2022, the payment of the bonuses had to be advanced by the service stations out of their own pockets and, on average, they amounted to 30,000 euros; we were the ones who financed the 20 cent measure. That cannot be repeated.” Those days, CEEES also defended that the procedure was erroneous and the low cost They threatened to close because, in their opinion, their business model would be put at risk if they had to advance the money. The big oil companies, on the other hand, they did enter into a price war. Recently, the CNMC accused Repsol to use the subsidy and subsequent discounts to eliminate its competition. At the moment, there is nothing firm on the table but the rumor of a possible subsidy for the purchase is taking shape again. All we have at the moment are statements from Carlos Corpus, Minister of Economy, collected by Expansion in which he points out that he says they will be “above the prices.” “Unfortunately, we already had to go through a similar episode in 2022 as a consequence of the invasion of Ukraine, so we are perfectly prepared to know what we have to do if necessary, protecting our citizens and companies through that shield,” Corps has made clear. For now, what that shield will be for citizens and companies is unknown. What is certain is that the gas stations want us to not return to the situation of 2022. Photo | Eric Mclean In Xataka | There is a hidden war to sell us the cheapest possible gasoline. One that Ballenoil and Plenergy already dominate

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz already points to gasoline at two euros/liter

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Unpredictable, unexpected and extreme impact. There are three characteristics that define what Nassim TalebLebanese philosopher, mathematician and essayist, pointed out to explain the “black swan theory”. With it he tries to explain what position to take in the face of such an inexplicable event of which we cannot understand its consequences. The theory takes its cue from the poet Juvenal, who once spoke of “a rare bird on earth, and very similar to a black swan“, a phrase that makes it clear that there was a time when it was believed that the swan, invariably, must be white because a black one had never been discovered. The phrase, in fact, was popular in England centuries ago. For Western Europe, swans were white. Spot. But a Dutch expedition at the end of the 17th century in Australia found that the black swan did indeed exist, which forever changed the knowledge we had on this subject. It was an unexpected, unpredictable event whose impact was extreme in its branch. Nacho Rabadán, general director of CEEES (Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers), the most representative association of the sector, rescues this theory to point out what can happen with a constant block of the Strait of Hormuz. “Whenever there are problems in the Middle East, there is speculation about a possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz and whenever that possibility is on the table, the price of oil rises. If Hormuz were really closed, we would be talking about a black swan, there would be an immediate and violent reaction in the price of oil and we would be in a scenario similar to that of the spring of 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine,” Rabadán explains to ABC. Gasoline at two euros/liter If the prices of the first days of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are reached, we would be talking about gasoline at a sustained price of between 1.80 and 2.00 euros/liter. At that time, Europe got to work to contain the impact on homes, mitigated in our country with one of subsidy of 20 cents/liter that did not end up stopping the rise in price and which, in fact, came to be used as means to attract clients according to the CNMC. Those days when OPEC maneuvered to keep the price of oil above $80/barrel seems far away. It even reached $130/barrel. But now they seem more alive than ever. The Strait of Hormuz is a key passage for energy for much of the world. It is an enclave of high tension, where the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf narrow to leave just a passage of between 60 and 100 kilometers for ships loaded with oil. For Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, controlling the passage of ships is key. since two weeksthe traffic is committed and with the attack by the United States and Israel on Iranand the country’s response to neighboring countries with US bases, the closure seems confirmed. A closure that has caught some 240 ships stopped in the middle of a historic traffic jam. Of them, Bloomberg The number of detained ships loaded with the precious commodity is estimated at 40 supertankers. The impact on the oil futures market was immediate once the attack became known but, for now, the price per barrel is close to 73 euros/unit (a few days ago it was around 65 dollars/barrel). The impact should be felt in the coming days if the fight becomes entrenched and Hormuz remains closed. For now, the price of gasoline has already risen slightly but the figures we find at the pumps will be, in the opinion of analystsmuch lower than we can expect in a few days. With the Ukrainian War and the Russia’s exit from the market (legal) of fuel, the price of gasoline shot up to 2.15 euros/liter and diesel to 2.10 euros/liter. The fear, of course, is not that only the price of fuel will skyrocket. Increasing its price impacts a general rise in prices since transportation is much more expensive. In fact, indirectly, not only the closure of Hormuz to the passage of oil can make products more expensive. Have to border the entire African coast to reach Europe to avoid attacks by some and others would raise the final bill. Both because of the extra fuel spent and the higher cost of keeping a ship traveling for more than 10 days, which extends the route in traffic between Asia and Europe. Photo | Marek Studzinski and Glenn Fawcett, Gieling, Rob In Xataka | Spain was supposed to raise diesel in 2026. It was supposed

We have been dreaming of infinite “solar gasoline” for decades. A new material inspired by plants has just proven that it is possible

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Nature has been keeping a secret in broad daylight for millions of years: photosynthesis. For decades, science has pursued the dream of replicating this process to create clean, sustainable fuels, but “artificial photosynthesis” has always run into walls of inefficiency and technical complexity. Until now. In short. A team of Chinese researchers has developed a method that mimics the natural process of transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into the basic components of gasoline. We are no longer talking about abstract theory; It is a system capable of creating “solar fuel” without depending on expensive chemical additives, bringing us closer to the holy grail of renewable energy. The advance, recently published in the magazine Nature Communicationscomes from a joint team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Researchers have designed a new composite material: tungsten trioxide modified with silver atoms (Ag/WO3). The end of chemical “tricks”. The truly revolutionary thing about this “magic dust” is not only its composition, but what it manages to avoid. To date, most attempts at artificial photosynthesis cheated: they used “sacrificial agents”, organic chemical additives (such as triethanolamine) that facilitated the reaction but were irreversibly consumed in the process, making it unsustainable and expensive on a large scale. This new system breaks that barrier. According to the scientific studythe catalyst achieves the light-driven conversion using only pure water (H2O) as an electron donor. No additives, no tricks. The result of this reaction is the efficient production of carbon monoxide (CO). Although it sounds like a harmful substance on its own, in the chemical industry this molecule is pure gold: it is a key intermediate that, mixed with hydrogen, forms the “synthesis gas” necessary to manufacture complex hydrocarbons such as methanol or synthetic gasoline. Air fuel. We are at the gateway to “solar fuels.” The importance of this finding lies in its ability to decarbonize sectors that electric batteries cannot easily cover, such as commercial aviation or heavy shipping. Furthermore, the researchers stand out in their paper who have come up with a “universal strategy”. Its material (Ag/WO3) is not an isolated invention, but a versatile “charger” that can be coupled to various types of catalysts (such as cobalt phthalocyanine, C3N4 or Cu2O) and improve their performance drastically. In fact, by combining this material with cobalt (CoPc), they achieved an efficiency 100 times higher than that of the catalyst acting on its own, equaling the performance of old systems that used polluting additives. It is a pure circular economy: capturing the gas that warms the planet (CO2) and turning it into a valuable resource. The secret is to imitate the leaves. To understand how they have achieved this, you have to look at a tree leaf. In natural photosynthesis, the processes of breaking down water and fixing CO2 are separate. Plants use a molecule called plastoquinone (PQ) to temporarily transport and “store” electrons excited by the sun before using them, acting as an energy buffer. Without this buffer, the electrons would be lost before they could be used. Chinese scientists asked themselves: “Can we build an artificial plastoquinone?” And the answer was tungsten. The developed material works as a bioinspired cargo reservoir: The battery: Under sunlight, tungsten changes its chemical structure (a valence swing from W6+ to W5+), temporarily trapping electrons as if it were a micro-battery. The bridge: When the system needs energy to convert CO2, the silver (Ag) atoms act as a bridge, releasing those stored electrons just at the right moment to recombine with the “gaps” of the catalyst. This solves the big problem of artificial photosynthesis: time and load management. While the water oxidizes, the system “saves” the solar energy to have it ready when the CO2 enters. From the laboratory to the real world. The best thing about this research is that it has not remained a theoretical simulation under perfect lamps. The team built an experimental device equipped with a Fresnel lens (to concentrate light) and took it outside to test it under natural sunlight. The data from the outdoor experiment are revealing: Solar rhythm: The system began to produce detectable gas from 9:00 a.m., reaching its peak production between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., faithfully following the intensity of the sun. Durability: The system demonstrated enviable robustness, maintaining its effectiveness over 72-hour test cycles without showing significant downtime. A bridge to the future. As reported by the South China Morning Postthis advancement builds a critical bridge between renewable energy and high-demand industrial applications. The study authors conclude that their work not only eliminates the need for unsustainable sacrificial agents, but provides a versatile design principle for building autonomous photocatalytic systems. Although there is still a way to go to see solar gas stations, the basic science—the mechanism for storing the sun’s energy in a chemical powder—is no longer a theory. Image | freepik Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels

The Government applauded Repsol’s discounts in the midst of the gasoline crisis. Competition the fine now with 20.5 million for them

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February 2022. Spain is still suffering the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis. After two years with workers suffering ERTES, Russia invades Ukraine and a war breaks out that we continue to suffer four years later. Immediately, the economy of the entire continent is reeling. Basic products skyrocket in price and, among them, fuel enters a runaway inflationary race. One that, in turn, once again raises the prices of basic products. February 3, 2022 we counted on Xataka that gasoline was more expensive than ever. We paid 1,538 euros per liter. 24% more than the previous year. In summer we were close to two euros per liter. By then the Government had launched its action plan. After a transport strike and with France applying state aid to the purchase of gasoline, the State began to subsidize with 20 cents/liter the purchase of fuel for all drivers. The measure only proved to be a plug through which water leaked. In summer the most pessimistic voices already pointed to a price of up to three euros per liter in gasoline. The pump price, fortunately, did not reach that point. In fact, that same summer another war began. This time at the service stations. And although the price of gasoline continued to rise to the point that at the till We were paying 1.80 euros for each liter again, The big oil companies brought out all their weapons: points cards, temporary discounts, loyalty plans… Movements that hid something that the CNMC already warned about that same summer: the big oil companies were getting rich. Now, it is the same CNMC that has made a decision: to fine Repsol 20.5 million euros. Abuse of power against competitors The CNMC has confirmed a sanction of 20.5 million euros to several Repsol Group companies and punishes them with disqualification from participating in public contracts for six months on the understanding that they abused their position of power to narrow profit margins with the intention of driving competitors out of the market. Competition defends that the discounts applied during the year 2022, which at the time were applauded by the Governmentthey narrowed the profit margins in the sale of fuel to the point of preventing companies selling low-cost fuel from competing on equal terms. The CNMC alleges that “competition law requires that companies in dominance position are especially responsible for not restricting competition. They assure that after various complaints they went to the Repsol Group service stations at the end of 2022 and that at the end of 2023 They initiated the disciplinary proceedings with the information collected. In the investigation. The behavior of Moeve, then Cepsa, and BP was also analyzed. However, only Repsol has been sanctioned. From the company, they point out in Five Daysassure that they will appeal the fine while arguing that “it is the first time in the history of national and community competition law that the CNMC sanctions a company for applying discounts.” Those days of 2022 were marked by the role of the oil companies. In April, when the State began to apply the discount of 20 cents per liter of fuel, low-cost operators They threatened to strike because they understood that the money they had to put out of their own pocket (of the 20 cents/liter, five were borne by the operator) destroyed their profit margins. Later, the CNMC confirmed that the companies in charge of supplying fuel were obtaining a juicy profit with the increase in fuel prices, to the point that their profit margins had widened despite having to put money in to subsidize fuel, with record gross margins. Now, the entity in charge of ensuring competition points out that Repsol also took the opportunity to try to sweep away the competition. It will have to be Repsol that manages to demonstrate that it did not act in this way and as the CNMC defends. Photo | Repsol In Xataka | For the first time, electrified cars are outselling gasoline cars. It is the beginning of the inevitable

For the first time, electrified cars are outselling gasoline cars. It is the beginning of the inevitable

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We already have the data on car registrations in 2025. And the inevitable has become reality: the electrified car has prevailed. Driven by countries like Germany or the United Kingdom, the alternatives to the combustion car make it clear that the future of the industry depends, yes or yes, on a plug. A discreet recovery. EU registration data for 2025 shows a clear trend: a significant increase in the registration of both electric and hybrid vehicles. Overall registrations rise by a discreet 1.8% but the change is not in the total volume, it is in the type of car that is sold. The data. The pure combustion vehicle is beginning to reduce its share in the European market. HEV (hybrids and microhybrids): 34.5% Gasoline: 26.6% BEV (pure electric): 17.4% PHEV (plug-in hybrids): 17.4% Diesel: 8.9% Others: 3.3% He electric car It already occupies third place in the ranking, doubling sales of diesel cars but below hybrids. Adding figures, the year-on-year variation (YOY) in December 2025 was an increase of 51% for pure electric cars and 36.7% for plug-in hybrids. The key countries. Figures from January to December 2025 show a substantial increase in electric car registrations in countries such as Germany (+43.2%), the Netherlands (+12.6%) and France (+12.5%). The data in countries like Spain is striking, which lead the growth in hybrids (+23.1%) and plug-in hybrids (+111.7%) in the latter case. The decline of combustion. At the end of 2025, gasoline car registrations fell by around 20%, and 24.2% in the case of diesel car registrations. If these figures are sustained in the short term, it will not take long for purely electric vehicles to surpass gasoline vehicles at the European level, placing them in second place in the ranking below HEVs. A bit of a trick. The photograph is clear: the electrified vehicle is growing at a rapid pace, but in cases like Spain there is some fine print. We are the country that has grown the most in adoption of HEVs (hybrid vehicles), but this category also includes MHEV. These are vehicles that combine a combustion engine with a small electrical system (generally 48V) and a low-capacity battery. They never circulate in 100% electric mode, but the small electrical system helps reduce emissions and consumption. Yes, but. It is also worth remembering that the total number of registrations does not only tell us about the preferences of individual users: the data reflects the registrations intended for companies and renters. Specifically, passenger car registrations in 2025 were quite distributed, with 50,213 in the case of channels for individuals and 43,362 for companies. The Transportation electrification is moving companies to buy electrified vehicles in volume, to comply with future European restrictionswho have recently lowered their forecast of reducing carbon emissions by 100% to now talk about 90%. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The Prosecutor’s Office believes that Moeve has saved 7.7 million euros in taxes. And the punishment is clear: dissolution of the company

less than fixing the gasoline engine

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What if your car’s engine breaks after 10 years? What are you doing with the car? With how expensive it has to be to change an entire engine… do you throw the car into the scrapyard? And if you don’t, do you invest thousands of euros in it? It is very likely that when you have told a friend, a cousin or a co-worker that you are thinking of buying a gasoline car, they have never asked you these questions. What if it were electric? Would they ask you what happens if your battery breaks when the car is 10 years old? In that case, the questions are not so strange anymore. Now, the answer will be less uncomfortable if you are one of the latter, one of those who are thinking about jumping into the electric car. At least not so much if you compare it with a combustion car. As expensive… as a combustion one How much does a serious gearbox breakdown cost? How much does a serious breakdown caused by the timing belt cost? How much does a serious engine cylinder head breakdown cost? These questions, and many others, are answered by RACE. Whether due to the amount of time that has to be invested, either because the replaced parts are expensive or due to a combination of both, the three aforementioned breakdowns can easily cost over 5,000 euros. An electric car, most commonly, does not have a gearbox. It will also not have a timing belt or an engine with cylinder heads, connecting rods or injectors. In fact, its maintenance is so simple that there are those who were wondering If electric cars have oil and if it is necessary to change it. However, there is a large public that continues to worry about the health of the battery and how much the bill may increase in the event of a forced change. This question was already answered by Recurrent study supported by Goldman Sachs. In it it was stated that in 2030 Changing an electric car battery will be as expensive as facing a serious breakdown of a combustion engine. According to his calculations, collected by Hybrids and ElectricsIn less than five years, changing batteries will cost between 3,200 and 4,800 euros for larger batteries. For lower battery cars, the forecast is for it to be below 3,000 euros. The bulk of the calculation to make these estimates is based on the price of its minerals and their impact on battery cells and packs. According to the data of Bloomberg NEFthe total cost of the battery in 2025 stood at $108/kWh. That is, a car battery with an 80 kWh accumulator (for which a highway range of between 350 and 450 kilometers is usually expected) would cost $8,640 right now, just over 7,200 euros. The number, however, has plummeted in a decade. In 2015 they calculated that the cost was $475/kWh and in 2013 it was $827/kWh. The evolution is promising. That Recurrent report already anticipated a price of $65/kWh cost for a complete battery replacement in 2030. That is, a car with the aforementioned 80 kWh battery would cost about $5,200 (about 4,380 euros). The study mentions the chemistry used (NMC are predictably more expensive than LFP) but it does not indicate whether there would be any additional cost between the cars that use CTC or CTB batteries. The first are batteries that are installed on the chassis of the vehicle but in the second the chassis itself is used as the vehicle’s casing and the cells are attached to it. In this way, energy density is increased and, therefore, there is a greater amount of electrical energy available in the same space. What is certain is that the price of changing batteries should fall over the years. The economy of scale itself will lower what remains the main cost of an electric vehicle. To this we must add that firms like Toyota They are already offering guarantees of ten years or one million kilometers if maintenance is carried out in their official workshops. To the above we must also add that some studies suggest thatOnly 2.5% of electric cars replace the battery due to breakdowns. Of course, it must be taken into account that the figure may have been distorted by the high cost that, until now, this operation has had. Photo | seat In Xataka | Toyota’s weapon to dominate the electric car is 1,200 kilometer batteries. And he has already set a date for them

Offering the cheapest gasoline in Spain has become an obsession. And 2026 is going to be the year of the great battle

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The cheapest gasoline in Spain today, January 7, is found at a Ballenoil service station in Coslada (Madrid) at a price of 1,239 euros/liter, according to dieselgasolina.coma portal that monitors the price of service stations throughout our country. The second position is also from a Ballenoil service station and is also in Coslada. And the third. And the fourth and the fifth. Oh. And also the seventh, the eighth and the tenth. And the company low cost has started a war to be the company that sells us fuel the cheapest in our country. It wants to continue expanding. And along the way it will face Plenergy, another of the queens of cheap gasoline. Both have undertaken strong expansion. The cheap gasoline war Ballenoil, which is part of Cepsa moeve since just over two yearsis the leg that its parent company has to continue attracting customers who prioritize the price of gasoline above any other incentive. The company goes through a transformation campaignmaking greater efforts for sustainable fuels and electricity. With Ballenoil, Moeve has some safety net. Its service stations require very little expense because, precisely, that is the secret of gasoline low cost. Minimum investments in the stations, forget about additives and any other additional service so that word of mouth is the true driver of service stations. Low prices but good performance at volume. The strategy is working. They point out in Five Days that Ballenoil sold 1.385 million liters of fuel in 2024 and that the target figure for 2026 is 1.8 billion liters. To do this, they seek to consolidate at the end of the year an offer of 500 gas stations spread throughout Spain. Last November they were the first low cost to reach 350 stations of service in Spain. The investment is by no means exceptional. Plenergy is another of the kings of low cost with a turnover of 1,550 million euros in sales in 2024. Right now, it has 352 gas stations on the Peninsula, of which 10 are in Portugal and the rest in Spain. The objective is the same as that of Ballenoil: 500 service stations by the end of 2026. He growth of this type of business It is so high that if the plans are fulfilled we will be seeing one opening of this type of company every four days. That is, every two weeks there should be three new service stations and another on the way. And to certify it, the objective of Plenergy, they point out in Five Days is to have a 10% market share in our country. That would place it as the third most used company, only behind Repsol and Moeve. To these two giants we must add the third in contention. Petroprix, which shares with Ballenoil the service stations with the cheapest fuel in Spain according to dieselgasolina.com, also plans an expansion. For now, talk about extend your influence abroad But it also does not turn its back on Spain and talks about having 400 service stations ready in our country by 2027. gasoline low cost proves to be a huge business in our country. As we counted on Xatakaits competitive advantage is zero investment in marketing or additives. The fuel arrives at these service stations as it is distributed by Exolum, former CHLin charge of distributing all gasoline throughout our country. In return, the business model proposes sales that are large enough to compensate for the narrow profit margin, without an alternative for additional services such as large gas stations such as Repsol or Moeve receive. Photo | Ballenoil and Plenergy In Xataka | Look at gasoline and diesel to improve the electric motor. This project is committed to an untested solution

Spain already sells more electric cars and plug-in hybrids than gasoline. With a (big) asterisk

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The plug-in vehicle is expanding in Spain. For the first time, our country has recorded more sales of plug-in vehicles (plug-in hybrids and electric) than gasoline and, of course, diesel cars. Or, in other words, they add up to more than pure combustion vehicles per fuel type and come close to exceeding the sum of both. The data, however, has important nuances. you will have read it. And it makes sense, because the data is striking. For the first time, Spain has added more sales of plug-in vehicles than pure combustion vehicles. The figures for last November are, according to ANFACthe following: Gasoline cars: 21,147 units Diesel cars: 4,979 units Plug-in hybrid cars: 11,999 units Electric cars: 9,316 units Therefore, the duel is as follows: Sum of combustion vehicles: 26,133 units Sum of plug-in vehicles: 21,315 units. The first. The news is that for the first time the sum of cars with plug They have surpassed pure combustion gasoline. Cars that do not have any type of electrification continue to represent 22.47% (28.15% if we extend the photograph to the entire year 2025) but this energy is clearly declining. Cars with a plug have already reached 22.65% market share. But the big change is in the year’s accumulated results. This has shot up to 19.29% when a year ago it stood at 11.06%. Growth between January and November 2025 has skyrocketed by 100.12%. That is, twice as many cars of this type have been purchased. The hybrids. Once again, the non-plug-in hybrid is the best-selling type of car. According to ANFAC data, it was the best-selling type of car last November, with 41,034 units and a market share of 43.60%. This data does not stop growing. In the accumulated of the year, the market share is 41.85% and is almost four percentage points more than in the same period of 2024 (38.09%). In total, they have grown 26.04% in sales so far this year. These hybrids are mostly gasoline. But of the more than 40,000 units last November classified as hybrids, 3,852 of them are hybrids with diesel engines, which begins to give some clues about what we are talking about. Right now, non-plug-in hybrids that run on diesel are 1,000 units away from surpassing pure combustion diesels. Why do we talk about an asterisk? Because in their accounts, the microhybrid cars They count the same as a hybrid. There is no way to know how many of the more than 40,000 hybrids sold in Spain in November 2025 and the more than 437,621 units sold so far this year actually correspond to electric hybrids. What is popularly known as a “Toyota hybrid.” In fact, among the best-selling hybrids so far this year we find cars like the Citroën C4, the Dacia Dusterhe Renault Austral or the Nissan Qashqai. All of them have electric hybrid versions but also light hybrids (also called mild hybrid or microhybrids). In fact, the last two only have versions with the ECO label and although of the four engines, two are mild hybridthey all add up as hybrids in the final count. The controversy of mild hybrid. The controversy with the light hybrid or mild hybrid It comes because it is an effective formula for manufacturers to minimally electrify a car to receive approval from the authorities but with a purely cosmetic impact on the car’s consumption or emissions. With the same engine, a car that uses this type of hybridization barely improves the data approved by its pure combustion brother. In Spain, these cars have some advantages over pure combustion cars despite the fact that their real impact is minimal. In MadridFor example, a car mild hybrid It is exempt from paying 75% of the Tax on Mechanical Traction Vehicles (IVTM) during the first six years. These cars also receive the ECO label from the DGT, which is key when receiving more benefits in Low Emission Zonesspaces where circulation is restricted taking into account the car’s environmental labeling. In some cities they also have advantages such as discounts when parking on the street. A redefinition? It is not expected. Neither when it comes to defining them as hybrids nor when it comes to giving them the ECO label. Recently, in the Congress of Deputies The new Sustainable Mobility Law was approved. It was intended to include the study of a review of environmental labeling, but an amendment by the Popular Party prevented it from being included. this will take place. The creation of a new category or the non-provision of the ECO sticker to these cars is, however, a problem. The main obstacle is what to do with the thousands and thousands of cars mild hybrid that have already been sold and that have received their ECO sticker. Provide different labeling to the new cars, despite the fact that they are in the same situation as the current ones, can create a discriminatory situation, but a retroactive withdrawal of the stickers already delivered is not contemplated either. Photo | juice In Xataka | Catalonia wants to restrict circulation to cars with DGT label B in the ZBE: these are the deadlines and the cities

the price difference with gasoline is now almost zero

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Bad news for drivers of diesel vehicles, who continue to be the majority in our country although they sell less and less. This fuel, which has traditionally been cheaper than gasoline, now faces a worrying future, and in fact the savings it previously offered are fading. It doesn’t stop going up. In the last five months the price of diesel has not stopped rising and in total its cost for the user has increased by 7% in this period. This upward trend is a setback for millions of users who see how the traditional economic advantage of their vehicles fades away little by little compared to gasoline options. Price gap closes. The most recent data from the EU Oil Bulletin, for the last week of November, indicate that the average price of diesel has stood at 1,456 euros per liter. That of 95 octane gasoline has not changed that much, and its appreciation in that time has been 2.1%, standing at 1,489 euros. The price difference between both fuels has been reducing in this second half of the year, and is now only 0.033 euros per liter, the narrowest margin since December 2023. Nuances. In reality, Spain’s situation is not exceptional, and in the EU there are already 11 countries – such as Austria, Belgium or Sweden – in which diesel is more expensive than gasoline. However, Spain remains one of the regions with the most affordable diesel, and is the fourth “cheapest” country in the EU, only behind Malta, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Russia and winter. Inés Cardenal, Director of Legal Affairs of the Fuel Industry of Spain (AICE), explained in El País the possible causes. According to her, Russia “is a large producer of refined diesel, the fuel most consumed in winter in Europe, and that has continued to put pressure on the market for three years due to the mismatch between supply and demand.” The US sanctions on large Russian crude oil producers They don’t help, of course. Diesel had an advantage. The truth is that diesel plays with a fundamental advantage in Spain: It has a tax burden that is 10 cents per liter less than that affecting gasoline, something that has led to its lower price. However Spain promised Europe a tax reform in exchange for continuing to receive European funds, and the idea is precisely increase the tax burden on diesel to equate it to that of gasoline. The surprise has already happened. In the last 20 years there have only been two times when the price of diesel exceeded that of gasoline. The first in 2008 due to the massive “dieselization” of vehicles in Spain. The second, due to the war in Ukraine, which caused diesel to be slightly above gasoline in March 2022 (€1.83/l vs €1.81/l) and remained above half a year. Uncertainty. Although the price of crude oil has remained relatively stable in the last year, European fiscal policies and the geopolitical situation point to a potential paradigm shift. It may not be a bad idea to prepare for a scenario in which fill the tank in a diesel vehicle no longer represents the savings of yesteryear. Image | Ali Mkumbwa In Xataka | Given the slow progress of the electric car, Spain has a forgotten alternative: 100% renewable fuel

Renewable gasoline and diesel are the last bastion of combustion cars to be able to circulate in Europe: they have a difficult time

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Whether for lack of infrastructure, strict regulationsocial perception, or by many other factors, electrification is a process that is advancingbut very slowly. Meanwhile, more than 20 million diesel and gasoline vehicles continue to circulate in Spain, many of them more than a decade old (or two). However, there are solutions that try to make this energy transition more bearable, and one of them involves the use of renewable fuels. What exactly are these fuels?. They don’t have a single drop of oil. They are produced from organic waste such as used cooking oils, animal fats, forest waste or crop remains. The catalytic hydrogen generation process transforms these wastes into fuels with properties similar to those derived from petroleum, but with a key difference: the CO₂ they emit when burned is the same as that which plants have previously absorbed from the atmosphere. Here we would therefore speak of a closed cycle, unlike fossil fuels, which release carbon stored underground for millions of years. Emissions. Repsol states that its Nexa diesel can reduce net CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional diesel, while your Efitec Nexa gasoline discount more than 70%. In this case, although the engine continues to emit CO₂, it was already in the atmosphere before being converted into fuel. However, there is a nuance: nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) continue to be generated during combustion, because they come from nitrogen in the air when exposed to high temperatures. And for now, studies show conflicting results, with some indicating slight increases in NOₓ with certain biofuels, while others like the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory they conclude that renewable diesel reduces both CO₂ and NOₓ. What is consistent is the reduction of particles and soot. Full compatibility with current cars. This is probably its biggest practical advantage. Any diesel or gasoline vehicle can use these fuels without technical modifications. There is no need to change the engine, adapt the tank, or install new pumps at gas stations. In the case of Repsol, its Nexa diesel also complies with the European standard EN 15940 for paraffinic fuels, and Efitec Nexa gasoline with EN-228. In addition, the company ensures that, thanks to its high cetane number, it improves combustion, reduces engine noise and has a cleaning effect on the injection system. Where to find them in Spain. Repsol clearly leads the deployment, with more than 1,000 stations that offer Nexa diesel and with the goal of reaching 30 stations with Efitec Nexa gasoline by the end of the year. BP too offers HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) in strategic locations such as Tafalla, Getafe, Villacastín Norte or Olaberria, although its network is more limited and is oriented towards professional transport. To locate them, the most practical thing is use web search engines of each company, since they include filters to find gas stations that offer renewable fuels. It is worth remembering that the conventional diesel sold at practically all gas stations in Spain already contains up to 7% biodiesel (B7 label), but it is not comparable to a 100% renewable fuel if we stick to emissions. Cost and availability. Price is one of the main obstacles. Nexa diesel costs approx. 10 cents more per liter than conventional diesel, placing it in the range of premium fuels. Renewable gasoline follows a similar trend. Furthermore, although Repsol has expanded its network, coverage remains limited outside large urban centers and main corridors, especially in terms of renewable gasoline. Industrial production. Repsol produces renewable diesel in its Cartagena refinery and 100% renewable gasoline at the Tarragona plant. The company assures that it has been researching these processes for more than twenty years in collaboration with Honeywell. In 2026, the opening of a new facility in Puertollano with capacity for more than 200,000 tons per year is planned. Who is using them already?. In addition to the fact that anyone can now go to a Repsol gas station to try these fuels, their use has transcended commercial vehicles. And they have been tested in competitions like the Dakar Rallyand even sustainable fuels are used on commercial flights. Also transport companies such as Scania, Alsa or Grupo Sesé have signed agreements for adoption. An intermediate solution. The current European regulations The CO2 emissions test for new vehicles measures emissions from the tailpipe. With this approach, the result is zero for an electric car, but not for one that uses renewable fuel, even if it is carbon neutral in its entire life cycle (from production to consumption). It is for this reason that the industry and defenders of these fuels are asking for a change in the methodology so that the complete life cycle of the fuel is considered. Repsol and other players in the sector They ask for adapted taxation and long-term objectives that provide stability to investments. The Spanish mobile fleet has an average age of 14.5 years and it has more than eight million vehicles that are more than two decades old, according to data from ANFAC (Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers). Therefore, renewable fuels could be an intermediate alternative in this stage of energy transition, especially since they do not leave millions of drivers behind. Cover image | engin akyurt In Xataka | In 2001, Renault launched a car ahead of its time: it was a miserable failure that now has another chance

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