Porsche was the one initially behind E-Fuels, along with Siemens energy have built a pilot E-fuel plant in Chile, where they plan to produce millions of gallons by the mid 2020’s. Ferrari, Lamborghini, along with classic car groups etc are also behind the project. Porsche believes synthetic fuel can help keep classic cars on the road, and believes it is a good fit for the 911.
“Fuel will be produced using electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from the atmosphere will then be combined with the hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which in turn will be converted into fuel, which Porsche has dubbed “eFuel.” All electricity needed will come from wind power, Porsche claims, lowering the carbon footprint of the production process.
This process will be so clean that cars burning synthetic fuel will have a lower overall carbon footprint than electric cars, once emissions related to manufacturing are factored in, Porsche vice president of GT cars and manufacturing Dr. Frank Walliser said earlier this year. However, the amount of energy involved makes the process of manufacturing and distributing synthetic fuel less efficient than charging an electric car.
In a first stage beginning in 2022, the plant is slated to produce around 34,340 gallons of fuel. A second stage running through 2024 will ramp up production to 14.5 million gallons annually, and a third stage running through 2026 will further boost annual production capacity to 145.3 million gallons. Porsche plans to use synthetic fuel in its Mobil 1 Supercup one-make race series beginning in 2022.” (Motorauthority)
Porsche, has invested $75 million in Chilean firm Highly Innovative Fuels. At the moment Porsche has no plans to sell the fuel to motorists, reserving it for “lighthouse” projects like the Supercup, as well as its customer-facing experience centres. Porsche is expecting to get the price of its e-fuel down to $2 a litre by the latter part of the decade and is hopeful it will get the price down to current unleaded costs or below prior to the initial ban.
It is said any combustion engine car will beable to run on e-fuel.