Porsche's new synthetic eFuels will keep classic and new combustion engines alive amidst EV push

Porsche and international partners working with the Chilean operating company Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF) have started the industrial production of synthetic fuels, bringing an alternative yet familiar method of propulsion to future (and past) vehicles.

This eFuel, produced at the Haru Oni plant, is produced from water, carbon dioxide, and wind energy captured from the air. Pilot production takes place at the 3.7 hectare Punta Arenas, Chile plant, in which it is the first in the world of its kind to produce such fuels.

The USD 74 million (~RM 374 million) integrated hydrogen facility is ran by HIF, in partnership with Siemens Energy, ExxonMobil, and the Chilean state energy company, alongside Porsche.

In this pilot phase, there is a planned production of around 130,000 litres/year of this eFuel, to be used in projects such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and at Porsche Experience Centres. After the pilot phase, production is projected to be up to 55 million litres per year by the middle of the decade, before growing to 550 million litres two years later.

Also read: The Porsche Macan T is a farewell to internal combustion as it'll be all-electric next

Success in this field is big news for clean motoring, because the infrastructure surrounding this eFuel doesn't require a rewriting of the rulebooks. It can be transported and distributed like regular fuels today; a solution we'd wager would be cheaper than building EV charging stations worldwide.

What's better, customers of existing vehicles can continue to keep the petrol engines they know and love. Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche, said that "Combustion engines can be powered with e-fuels in a virtually carbon-neutral manner. They don’t have to be converted or retrofitted for it.

E-fuels can be offered as an admixture or alone at all filling stations. We have to offer an option to the owners of existing vehicles too.”

Rather historically, the landmark was celebrated with the filing of a Porsche 911 with the first synthetic fuel produced at the site.

Seeing as there are over a billion vehicles worldwide, coupled with the varying speeds of EV adoption between regions, Porsche believes that vehicles with combustion engines will remain on the road for many more years to come – so synthetic fuels are an effective, complementary solution to the whole greenifcation debate.

Also read: Porsche doubles down on its CO2-neutral goals with its Zero Impact Factory

Porsche is not alone in pursuing this multi-pathway to carbon neutrality, akin to Toyota who are also fervently pursuing development of hydrogen- and carbon-neutral fuel technologies (CNF) alongside EVs.

Also read: Toyota is quietly showing how everyone is missing the point about carbon neutrality