The world is seemingly in full force to cut emissions. Hyundai will no longer sell ICE cars in Norway, Oregon and Washington have followed California in banning the sale of gas and diesel cars by 2035, and the Model Y has been the best selling car in Europe for the past few months. However, for most gearheads, that’s bad news: the rumble of muscle cars, the pops and crackles of sports cars, and the whines and whistles of forced induction are on their way out.
Porsche isn’t one to take no for an answer, so in addition to investing in EVs, they’ve tried to please both sides of the battle against fossil fuels. In early April 2022, Porsche partnered with Siemens and invested $75M in Chilean company Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF) to create such a biofuel that works well in existing vehicles but doesn’t pollute the environment. They chose Haru Oni, a hydrogen site in the southern Magallanes region of Chile, due to its constant winds that power wind turbines, producing up to 4 times more sustainable electricity than in Europe. This electricity is then used in a process called electrolysis, which electrically separates hydrogen from oxygen in water.
The next step is obtaining CO2 from the air to create methanol. This e-methanol is created when the hydrogen and CO2 are run through a copper-zinc analyst. The methanol is sent through an ExxonMobil catalyst that converts it into gasoline with a byproduct of water. The groups estimate that this process will remove up to 2 million metric tons of it per year, after building 12 of these plants around the world. It’s important to note that this replacement roughly equates to a carbon density around 10. While that’s not 0, it’s an impressive 90% reduction in net carbon over standard gas.
However, how feasible really is this? Currently, it’s estimated that the plant can produce 130,000 liters of this synthetic fuel, but that pales in comparison to the billions of liters consumed every day. There are plans to increase this output to 55 million in a few years and 550 million liters 2 years after that. Again, that’s miniscule compared to how much traditional gas is used every year, but it’s a big start to a more sustainable future.
The next limiting factor is cost. This eFuel currently costs around $45/gallon, an eye-watering figure for all but it’s wealthiest clients. By 2026, this price should come down to $7.57/gallon, which is still a big gulp to swallow for Americans, but much closer to the price of gas in Europe. Again, there’s no way eFuel could satisfy the great need for gasoline, so Porsche has elected to use it in its Porsche Supercup and for vehicles at its Porsche Experience Centers. Do you think synthetic fuels will take over? Or will we continue with traditional gas and eventually succumb to the mandate of EVs.
