Still Love Internal Combustion Engines? Porsche Has A Long-Term Solution For You

Well, Porsche being Porsche, they have something of a surprise for ICE lovers by sheer science and ingenuity. Outdoing themselves seems to be the order of the day for the house of Zuffenhausen.

Introducing a carbon-neutral fuel, named eFuel, which is produced using low-cost green wind power. Put on your scientist hats before proceeding to read how exactly it is made: electrolysers split water into oxygen and green hydrogen using wind power. CO₂ is then filtered from the air and combined with the green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which in turn is converted into eFuel.

Essentially, Porsche is reverse engineering its own version of petrol that burns as efficiently as conventional fossil fuel, yet is reducing fossil CO₂ emissions in combustion engines by up to 90 per cent through ‘offsetting’ it in the production process that uses ambient CO₂ and renewable energy. Isn’t that genius?

Of course, it isn’t entirely clean, that’s why Porsche claims it is “nearly” CO2-neutral, but not completely. The emissions that are produced from ICE vehicles remain the same as before, and while CO₂ is offsetted, the other pollutants produced, for example as the Land Transport Authority in Singapore (LTA) defines as Hydrocarbons (HC), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxides (NOX), Particulate Matter (PM), aren’t.

Which brings us to the big question, will this challenge the current electrification trend? I think the answer is a clear ‘no’. eFuels are infinitely cleaner than fossil fuels, but because of the presence of tailpipe emissions, it simply won’t work as well as EVs in solving urban pollution. However, whether the power sources of EVs are clean and whether EVs are an efficient use of energy are veritable chinks in the armour of the ‘for EV’ argument, so it’s good to know that there is now a viable alternative in eFuels.

In a media roundtable with Barbara Frenkel, Board Member for Procurement, Porsche AG and Michael Steiner, Board Member for Research & Development, Porsche AG, OneShift confirmed that eFuels will be able to be used by all ICE petrol vehicles and not just Porsches - diesel not included. Fans would be happy to know that, according to Porsche, the 911 is particularly suited to the use of eFuels - a sign that perhaps it may not be electrified - yet, given it is the heart and soul of the brand. Also fitting the bill are older classic vehicles, although some form of additives may be needed. The concept is something like E10 fuel, but much, much more clever. They also reiterated that efficiency is not affected at all, so expect fuel consumption on eFuels to be identical to using fossil fuels.

You may expect the cost of producing eFuels to be prohibitive, but OneShift learnt that it is actually very close to conventional fuels. It remains to be seen whether eFuels will be subsidised by governments, given it’s a significantly greener option versus fossil fuels which are routinely penalised with punitive taxes. Production capacity is the main bottleneck now from getting eFuels out to the world, but expect it to ramp up if the demand uptake is good.

A pilot plant is initially being built north of Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia, which is expected to produce around 130,000 litres of eFuels in 2022. The capacity will then be expanded in two stages to around 55 million litres by 2024, and around 550 million litres by 2026.

In its latest update, Porsche has revealed that it is investing USD 75 million in HIF Global LLC, a holding company of internationally active project developers of eFuel production facilities, one of which is the Punta Arenas facility. In total, Porsche’s investment into the development and provision of this innovative technology amounts to more than USD 100 million.

Looks like Porsche is here to save ICE engines, and we have much to look forward to yet. It’s not a panacea for all that’s wrong in the car world at the moment, but it’s close.

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