Volkswagen is embracing electrification with the launch of many all-electric vehicles but says the internal combustion engine still has some life left.
During a recent interview with Autocar, VW technical chief Matthias Rabe said that the adoption of synthetic fuels made from biomass and other materials will allow car manufacturers like VW to continue building combustion engines and that they “will have a longer future than some people predict.”
Synthetic fuels are produced from natural materials and emit no CO2 or other emissions and, while they have been in development for many years, they are not yet ready for production. Nevertheless, Volkswagen and Bentley are among the car manufacturers looking into the technology.
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Rabe says that the weight and size of batteries used by current hybrid and all-electric vehicles will spur on the development of synthetic fuels.
“We will come to e-fuels,” he said. “If you look at the aviation industry, e-fuels are in high demand because [planes] won’t go electric, otherwise you won’t cross the Atlantic. We take our CO2 targets very seriously and want to be a role model on CO2, but that doesn’t mean we will exclude the combustion engine.”
While Rabe didn’t say just how long internal combustion engines could stick around, he did say that the German car manufacturer is committed to “a broad field” of powertrain options for at least the next decade.
