Porsche's new synthetic eFuels will keep classic and new combustion engines alive amidst EV push
Sanjay · Dec 28, 2022 05:15 PM
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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.
Haru Oni
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.
In February this year, Porsche demonstrated the use of renewable synthetic fuels via this pair of Cayman GT4 RS'
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.
Future iterations of the 911 GT3 Cup, racing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, will utilise the synthetic eFuel. Currently it runs biofuel sourced from food waste
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.
With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.
