Heavy blow for Porsche's e-fuel plans - "Decision against innovations"

Created: 06/13/2022, 12:57 p.m

By: Julian Baumann

The EU has sealed the end of combustion engines for 2035.

This means that Porsche's e-fuel research is also facing a huge problem.

Stuttgart - A complete turning away from the internal combustion engine has long been apparent in Europe.

The Greens in Germany called for an even earlier end to production.

But they suffered a defeat in court: Mercedes, BMW and VW are allowed to sell combustion engines until 2035.

However, the EU Commission has now finally sealed the end of combustion engines.

Heated discussions erupted in the auto industry regarding this decision.

Sports car manufacturer Porsche was not exactly satisfied with the vote either.

Car group Mercedes-Benz recently welcomed the EU's ban on internal combustion engines.

The long-established company from Stuttgart is already planning to use a fully electric fleet from 2030 wherever market conditions allow.

On the other hand, in addition to very successful e-cars such as the Taycan, Porsche also relies on a method that is intended to fire the combustion engines in a CO2-neutral manner.

So-called e-fuels, synthetic fuels from wind and solar energy, could now also be on the brink of extinction as a result of the ban.

Combustion end sealed: Porsche plans with e-fuels are likely to be much more difficult

At first glance, the EU Commission's ban on internal combustion engines is very generalized.

The goal is to only allow the sale of emission-free new cars from 2035, reports

.

Everyone should be aware by now that the future of automotive engineering is more than clearly geared towards electric cars.

However, synthetic fuels such as e-fuels or hydrogen-based fuel cells could also operate a combustion engine without emissions.

In an exclusive interview with BW24, however, Mercedes strategy chief Carolin Strauß explained that e-fuels at Mercedes-Benz are currently "not seen as the most sustainable and energy-efficient solution of all variants".

However, sports car manufacturer Porsche has invested large sums in a research facility in Chile where e-fuels are to be produced in the future.

The Zuffenhausen-based company primarily wants to supply the existing fleet with the synthetic fuels once they are ready for the market.

In Stuttgart, therefore, there was no jubilant response to the EU Commission's decision.

Porsche does not want to say goodbye to the committed plans.

"We rely on a triad of electric models, plug-in hybrids and petrol engines," the car manufacturer told the

.

Porsche wants to save the combustion engine with e-fuels.

Due to the EU ban, this intention may now be in jeopardy © Porsche AG

However, experts see from the vote that Porsche's e-fuels plans are likely to become significantly more difficult in the future.

In the long term, it will not be enough just to supply car customers with synthetic fuels, explained Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) at the Bergisch Gladbach University of Applied Sciences.

Porsche must also focus more on demand from the maritime and aviation sectors.

Porsche and e-fuel research: car manufacturers get momentum from the industry

The transformation to e-car production is in full swing throughout the automotive industry.

With the all-electric Taycan series, Porsche also has high-performance e-cars on the market and is increasingly electrifying other models as well.

With regard to e-fuel production, with which Porsche also wants to power the legendary 911, for example, the Swabian car manufacturer is also getting tailwind.

With the decision, the EU Commission made a “decision against the citizens, against the market, against innovations and against modern technologies,” Hildegard Müller, President of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), criticized

the decision to stop combustion engines, according to the

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With regard to synthetic fuels, it became even clearer.

“E-fuels are also needed to achieve the climate targets,” said Müller.

Critics, on the other hand, suspect that car manufacturers want to keep a "back door" open for continued combustion engine production with research into synthetic fuels.

In addition, e-fuels should be reserved for large engines in ships and aircraft, where battery-electric propulsion is currently unimaginable.

Before the final decision by the EU Parliament, lobbyists had long fought to allow synthetically produced fuels to be an exception.

Ultimately, however, the EU also put a stop to e-fuels.