Multevo’s Hydrovo pothole filling machine, which uses a combination of hydrotreated vegetable oil and hydrogen for power, has been trialled by Hampshire Highways.

Originally launched in October 2021, the Hydrovo is a multi-purpose highway maintenance machine capable of undertaking different applications all-year-round by interchanging different attachments. This means the one machine can tackle a range of services such as highways and winter maintenance, grass cutting, tree works and flood water pumping for example to increase efficiency. The Hydrovo is unique because it operates on a dual-fuel system of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and hydrogen to totally displace diesel producing a net zero operation.

Last year, the kit was awarded the Plant and Fleet Innovation Award by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) voted by industry peers.

The machine’s patch planer application is established as one of the UK’s most productive solutions in its class for preparation of potholes, defects and patches with Derby City Council citing a 300% improvement in permanent repair productivity.

As well as removing the defective area, it is also cable of sweeping the milled road material and even paving asphalt as part of the reinstatement process by simply switching attachments.

Hampshire Highways contracted Multevo for carriageway repairs in November 2022, having undertaken detailed road condition surveys over the summer to identify the right treatment and most efficient programme delivery.

Simon Watson, Business Director for Milestone said:

“Trials like this enable us to explore different and new ways to reduce our carbon output in highway maintenance works. Whether we adopt use of the Hydrovo going forward remains to be seen, but opportunities to work with companies like Multevo enables us to explore opportunities for efficient maintenance methods which assist in the delivery of our Carbon Reduction Strategy. Working collaboratively with Hampshire County Council we are pushing the boundaries of our industry and challenging the norm. We will continue to innovate and work with forward thinking partners like Multevo to further advance our industry.”

Since commencing the contract, Multevo has delivered a new ‘turnkey’ approach to pothole, defect and patch repairs by taking ownership of surveys, permits, provision of materials and planning of works. They also manage their own temporary traffic management for their teams too.

So far, the team has permanently repaired over 17,000 square metres of potholes, defects and patches whilst also switching from diesel equipment to HVO vehicles to further reduce emissions by up to 90%.

We’re sourcing our HVO from Green Biofuels (GBF). The HVO used is made from a blend of renewable and sustainable feedstocks such as vegetable and animal oils and waste fats. The fuel only uses waste products, not virgin crops meaning we are repurposing waste to help the planet.

Josh Sweeney, Director of Marketing & Growth at Multevo said:

“Working with Hampshire Highways is a joy because we are all collaborating together as one team to identify ways to improve on our service delivery through low carbon innovation. Switching to HVO across our fleet is only the start of this process and the Hydrovo is the next step on our journey to sustainable highway maintenance.”