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<\/a>Electric vehicles might be promoted as the key technological solution for low-carbon transport today, but they weren\u2019t always the obvious option. Back in the early 2000s, it was biofuels.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Rather than extracting and burning oil, we could grow crops like cereals and sugarcane, and turn them into viable fuels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (By\u00a0Hannah Ritchie<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Pablo Rosado<\/a>, January 12, 2026)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n While we might expect biofuels to be a solution of the past due to the cost-competitiveness and\u00a0rise of electric cars<\/a>, the world produces more biofuels than ever. And this rise is expected to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, we give a sense of perspective on how much land is used to produce biofuels, and what the potential of that land could be if we used it for other forms of energy. We\u2019ll focus on what would happen if we used that land for solar panels, and then how many electric vehicles could be powered as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll mostly focus on road transport, as that is where 99% of biofuels are currently used. The world generates small amounts of \u201cbiojet fuel\u201d \u2014 used in aviation \u2014 but this accounts for only 1% of the total.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0While aviation biofuels will increase in the coming years, in the near-to-medium-term, they\u2019ll still be small compared to fuel for cars and trucks. By 2028, the IEA\u00a0projects that aviation<\/a>\u00a0might consume around 2% of global biofuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear: we\u2019re not proposing that we should replace all biofuel land with solar panels. There are many ways we could utilise this land, whether for food production, some biofuel production, or rewilding. Maybe some combination of all of the above. But to make informed decisions about how to use our land effectively, we need to get a perspective on the potential of each option. That\u2019s what we aim to do here for solar power and electrified transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this analysis, we draw on a range of sources and, at times, produce our own estimates. We\u2019ve written\u00a0a full methodological document<\/a>\u00a0that explains our assumptions and guides you through each calculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we get into the calculations, it\u2019s worth a quick overview of where biofuels are produced today, and what their impacts are.If you\u2019re already familiar with biofuels, you might want to skip to the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some might imagine that biofuels have lost their relevance. But historical policies supporting them are still in place. As shown in the chart below, the world produces more biofuels than ever, and this trend is\u00a0expected to continue<\/a>. Global production is focused in a relatively small number of markets, with the United States, Brazil, and the European Union dominating. Since there are no signs of policies changing in these regions, we would not expect the rise of biofuels to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the world\u2019s biofuels come from sugarcane (mostly grown in Brazil), cereal crops such as corn (mostly grown in the United States and the European Union), and oil crops such as soybean and palm oil (which are grown in the US, Brazil, and Indonesia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the map below, you can get a view of where the world\u2019s biofuels are grown.<\/p>\n\n\n Collectively, these biofuels\u00a0produce around<\/a>\u00a04% of the world\u2019s energy demand for transport. While that does push some oil from the energy mix, the climate benefits of biofuels are not always as clear as people might assume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we consider the climate impact of growing the food and manufacturing the fuel, the carbon savings relative to petrol can be small for some crops.3<\/sup><\/a> But more importantly, when the opportunity costs<\/em> of the land used to grow those crops are taken into account, they might be worse<\/em> for the climate.4<\/sup><\/a> That\u2019s because agricultural land use is not \u201cfree\u201d. If we chose not to use it for agriculture, then it could be rewilded and reforested, which would sequester carbon from the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a climate perspective, freeing up that cropland from biofuels would be one alternative. However, another option is to utilise it for another form of energy, which could offer a much greater climate benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This should<\/em> be easy to estimate. If you know how much land in the United States (or any other country) is used for corn, and what fraction of corn is for biofuels, you can calculate the amount of land used for biofuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes things complicated is that biofuels often produce co-products that are allocated to other uses, such as animal feed. Not all of the corn or soybeans turn into liquid that can be put in a car; some residues can then be fed to pigs and chickens. How you adjust this land used for biofuels and their co-products can lead to quite different results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\u00a0recent analysis<\/a>\u00a0from researchers at Cerulogy estimated that biofuels are grown on 61 million hectares of land.5<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0But when they split this allocation between land for biofuels and land for animal feed, the land use for biofuels\u00a0alone<\/em>\u00a0was 32 million hectares. The other 29 million hectares would be allocated for land use for animal feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are much higher published figures. The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants\u00a0estimates that<\/a>\u00a0as much as 112 million hectares are \u201cused to supply feedstock for biofuels\u201d.6<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0By this definition, there is no adjustment for dual use of that land or the land use of co-products. That\u2019s\u00a0one<\/em>\u00a0of the reasons why the figures are much higher. Even taking this into account, the numbers are still higher, and the honest answer is that we don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this article, we\u2019re going to assume a net land use of 32 million hectares<\/strong>. This is conservative<\/em>, and that is deliberate. As we\u2019ll soon see, the amount of solar power we could generate, or the number of electric vehicles we could power on this land, is extremely large. And that\u2019s with us being fairly ungenerous about the amount of land available. Larger land use figures could also be credible; in that case, the potential would be even higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How large is 32 million hectares? Imagine an area like the one in the box below: 640 kilometers across, and 500 kilometers high. For context, that\u2019s about\u00a0the size of<\/a>\u00a0Germany, Poland, the Philippines, Finland, or Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n Could we use those 32 million hectares of land differently to produce even more<\/em> energy than we currently get from biofuels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer is yes. If we put solar panels on that land, we could produce roughly 32,000 terawatt-hours of electricity each year.7<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0That\u2019s 23 times more than the energy that is currently produced\u00a0in the form<\/a>\u00a0of all liquid biofuels.8<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0You can see this comparison in the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n 32,000 terawatt-hours is a big number. The world\u00a0consumed<\/a>\u00a031,000 TWh of electricity in 2024. So, these new solar panels would generate enough electricity to meet the world\u2019s current levels of consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some estimates suggest the gap between the energy generated by solar power and biofuels is even larger.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Again, our proposal isn\u2019t that we should<\/em> cover all of this land in solar panels, or that it could easily power the world on its own. We don\u2019t account for the fact that we\u2019d need energy storage and other options to make sure that power is available where and when it\u2019s needed (not just when the sun is shining). We\u2019re just trying to get a sense of perspective for how much electricity could<\/em> be produced by using that land in more efficient ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we put solar panels on that land, we could produce roughly 32,000 terawatt-hours of electricity each year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n These comparisons might seem surprising at first. But they can be explained by the fact that growing crops is a very inefficient process. Plants convert\u00a0less than 1%<\/a>\u00a0of sunlight into biomass through photosynthesis.9<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Even more energy is then lost when we turn those plants into liquid fuels. Crops such as sugarcane tend to perform better than others, like maize or soybeans, but even they are still inefficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By comparison, solar panels convert 15% to 20% of sunlight into electricity, with some recent designs\u00a0achieving as much<\/a>\u00a0as 25%.10<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0That means replacing crops with solar panels will generate a lot more energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, you might think that we\u2019re comparing very different things here: energy from liquid biofuels meant to decarbonize transport<\/em>, and solar, which could decarbonize electricity<\/em>. But with the rise of affordable and high-quality electric vehicles, solar power can be a way to decarbonize transport, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Run the numbers, and we find that you could power all<\/em> of the world\u2019s cars and trucks on this solar energy if transport were electrified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, these vehicles would need to be electrified in the first place. This is happening \u2014 electric car\u00a0sales are rising<\/a>, and electric trucks are now starting to get some attention \u2014 but it will take time for most vehicles on the road to be electric. For now, we\u2019ll imagine that they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We estimate that the total electricity needed to power all cars and trucks is around 7,000 TWh per year, comprising 3,500 TWh for cars and a similar amount for trucks. We\u2019ve added this comparison to the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could power all of the world\u2019s cars and trucks on this solar energy if transport were electrified.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s less than one-quarter of the 32,000 TWh that solar panels could produce on biofuel land. Consider those options. The world could meet 3% or 4% of transport demand with biofuels. Or it could meet all<\/em> road transport demand on just one-quarter of that land. The other three-quarters could be used for other things, such as food production, biofuels for aviation, or it could be left alone to rewild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s worth noting that in this scenario \u2014 unlike using solar for bulk electricity needs \u2014 we would need much less additional energy storage solutions, because every car and truck is essentially a big battery in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n The reason these comparisons are even more stark than biofuels versus solar is that most of the energy consumed in a petrol car is wasted; either as heat (if you put your hand over the bonnet, you will often notice that it\u2019s extremely warm after driving) or from friction when braking. An electric car is much more efficient without a combustion engine, and thanks to regenerative braking (which uses braking energy to recharge the battery). That means that driving one mile in an electric car uses\u00a0just one-third<\/a>\u00a0of the energy of driving one mile in a combustion engine car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put these two efficiencies together, and we find that you could drive 70 times as many miles in a solar-powered electric car as you could in one running on biofuels from the same amount of land.This \u201c70 times\u201d figure is conservative as it\u2019s based on total biofuel energy production and land use, which includes more efficient crops such as sugarcane. The comparison between solar-powered electric cars and corn ethanol biofuels can be 100, or even 200 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201c70 times\u201d figure is conservative as it\u2019s based on total biofuel energy production and land use, which includes more efficient crops such as sugarcane. The comparison between solar-powered electric cars and corn ethanol biofuels can be 100, or even 200 times.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Our point here is not<\/em> that we should cover all of our biofuel land in solar panels. There are reasons why the comparisons above are simpler than the real world, and why dedicating all<\/em> of that land to solar power would not be ideal.11<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The world could meet 3% or 4% of transport demand with biofuels. Or it could meet all road transport demand on just one-quarter of that land.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n What we do want to challenge is how we think and talk about land use. People rightly question the impact of solar or wind farms on landscapes, but rarely consider the land use of existing biofuel crops, which do very little to decarbonize our energy supplies. Whether we\u2019ll run out of land for solar or wind is a common concern, but when we run the numbers, it\u2019s clear that there is<\/em> more than enough; we\u2019re just using it for other things. Stacking up the comparative benefits of those other things allows us to make better choices, if they\u2019re available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, we wanted to run the numbers and get some perspective on how we could use that Germany- or Poland-sized area of land in the most efficient way. What\u2019s clear is that we could produce a huge amount of electricity from solar on just a fraction of that land. We could power an entire global electric car and truck fleet on just one-quarter of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Land use<\/a>\u00a0comes at a cost: for the climate, ecosystems, and other species we share the planet with. That means we should think carefully about how to use it well. That might mean a mix of biofuels for aviation, and solar power for road transport and electricity grids. It might mean going all-in on solar. Or it could mean using some of it for solar power, and leaving the rest alone. Sometimes, the most thoughtful option is not using land at all and letting it return to nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Methodology: If you\u2019re interested in digging deeper, we provide a methodological document where we go through our sources and calculations in detail.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this article, please also cite the underlying data sources. This article can be cited as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n BibTeX citation<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhich countries produce biofuels, and what are the impacts?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>How much land do biofuels use?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow much solar power could you produce on that land, and how many cars could you run?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Land use comes at a cost, so we should think carefully about how to use it well<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Cite this work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado (2026) - \u201cPutting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric\u201d Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https:\/\/archive.ourworldindata.org\/20260112-000122\/biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles.html' [Online Resource] (archived on January 12, 2026).<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n@article{owid-biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles,\n author = {Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado},\n title = {Putting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric},\n journal = {Our World in Data},\n year = {2026},\n note = {https:\/\/archive.ourworldindata.org\/20260112-000122\/biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles.html}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"