Porsche wants to begin trials of synthetic fuels next year as it looks for ways to prolong the life of the internal combustion engine.
The German car manufacturer has been investigating synthetic fuels for quite some time and last year, announced partnerships with Siemens Energy, AME, Enel, and Chilean petroleum company ENAP to establish a plant for the commercial production of synthetic fuels on an industrial scale.
This plant will begin operations in 2022 and will produce as much as 55 million liters of synthetic fuel by 2024 and roughly ten times that amount by 2026. Speaking with Autocar, Porsche chief executive Oliver Blume explained the benefits of e-fuels.
“Their advantages lie in their ease of application: e-fuels can be used in combustion engines and plug-in hybrids, and can make use of the existing network of filling stations,” he said.
Read Also: Porsche Wants Synthetic Fuels To Be Used By ICE-Powered Cars In The Future
Porsche’s sports car boss Frank Walliser added that the company will begin trials of the e-fuels next year.
“We are on track, together with our partners in South America. For sure, in 2022, it will be very, very small volume for the first trials. It’s a long road with huge investment, but we are sure that this is an important part of our global effort to reduce the CO2 impact of the transportation sector.”
“The general idea behind these synthetic fuels is that there is no change to the engine necessary, unlike what we have seen with E10 and E20, so really, everybody can use it, and we are testing with the regular specs of pump fuel. It has no impact on performance – some horses more, so it’s going in the right direction – but emissions are way better; we see less particles, less NOx – so that’s going in the right direction,” Walliser added.
Porsche’s synthetic fuel is created by combining hydrogen with carbon captured from the air to produce methanol, which is then transformed into a gasoline substitute that vehicles can use. The Chilean factory will create the e-fuel with the aid of wind power.
