As the
European Union
debates whether or not to postpone
the ban on new cars with combustion engines that it initially voted for until 2035
, a strong letter appeared that could save at the last minute a technology that seems destined to lose the battle against the systems electrical.
This is e-fuel,
a synthetic fuel that promises to be up to 75% cleaner
than the gasoline we know and that is already being tested by many big players in the industry.
By being
compatible with the conventional engines currently on the road
, e-fuel is presented as a promising solution not only because it could stretch the market share of internal combustion engines, but also because it reduces the carbon footprint of the cars that are leaving the factory today and represent the largest vehicle fleet on the planet.
Porsche already has its plant in Chile.
(photo: Porsche)
"Whatever the pace of the transition to electrification, there will be a billion or hundreds of millions of vehicles (gas or diesel) on the road for a long time," said Tom Stricker, Toyota's Vice President of Sustainable Development.
For this reason, he maintained, synthetic proposals such as e-fuel are "very important to quickly achieve the expected reductions in greenhouse gases."
The Japanese brand is one of those that took the initiative in this matter and partnered with ExxonMobil to test this type of fuel in their cars.
But it is not the only one: the eFuel Alliance, for example,
encompasses 170 companies, including terminals such as Mazda and Iveco
,
while Lamborghini and the German Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche are also working at a good pace.
The latter is one of those that can record the most concrete advances in terms of research and development: for example, it also partnered with ExxonMobil and with HIF Global and Siemens Energy, among others, to inaugurate an experimental plant called Haru Oni, located in
Punta Arenas, Chile
.
This plant expects to produce 55 million liters in 2024 and up to 550 million in 2026.
The e-fuel production cycle.
The choice of that southern end of the neighboring country is not a whim, but e-fuel is based on two resources that abound in those lands:
air and water
.
"To make it we need to make methanol, which in turn requires hydrogen and carbon dioxide," explained Haru Oni's Head of Operations, Marcelo Daller.
The first is achieved through electrolysis, a process to divide the elements of each water molecule, which they also capture from renewable sources.
"It is, therefore, green hydrogen," Daller emphasized.
And combined with the second in a catalyst, they obtain a synthesis that results in the necessary methanol to later manufacture the final product, a liquid fuel similar to the traditional ones, but
cleaner and more sustainable.
This is how Porsche E-Fuel is produced in Chile
The fuel that promises to save combustion engines
ExxonMobil's Vice President of Strategy and Planning, Andrew Madden, guaranteed that they are making great progress on the matter, but it still seems to be too early to get excited about seeing e-fuel dispensers at service stations.
It is produced from only two resources: air and water.
(photo: Porsche)
The main obstacle is the cost of production
, at the moment significantly higher than that of fossil fuels.
Partly because the production of hydrogen is not cheap and requires a lot of energy, but also because a lot of carbon dioxide is needed to satisfy a great demand for e-fuel, which translates into heavy investments to capture it so that it can be manufactured at scale. industrial.
Given this, they assure, the support of the States will be essential through
government policies that encourage the successful arrival of this technology
and thus put it at competitive levels, with the potential benefit that it could even supply the heavy transport industry, rural machinery and even naval or aeronautical.
Porsche plans to produce 55 million liters in 2024. (photo: Porsche)
In this sense, and barely a week after the approval of the majority, it was two European countries that
asked in March to put a stop to the idea of the Parliament of the Old Continent that establishes 2035 as the limit for the production of cars with combustion engines. internal.
Italy and Germany demand more time to look for alternatives
, such as e-fuels, to prolong the useful life of what already exists and, in turn, avoid massive layoffs in the short term in the plants, arguing that less is needed labor to make electric cars.
E-fuel can extend the useful life of a large part of the world's automotive fleet.
Given this, the head of the European Commission herself, Ursula von der Leyen, met with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to work on the search for consensus and analyze the steps to be followed by the industry in the short term.
"We are looking at the new concerns that have been raised to see how best to address them," said spokeswoman for the Community Executive, Dana Spinant.
And she clarified that the legislation to be approved includes a "review clause" to analyze necessary adjustments, new advances that change the landscape or the very pace of concretion of the established objectives.
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