Porsche And Siemens Energy Are Developing A New Climate-Neutral Synthetic Fuel

Exciting news out of Chile this morning as Siemens Energy in partnership with Porsche and a dozen other international companies, have implemented a pilot project which is expected to yield an industrial-scale plant for making synthetic climate-neutral fuels. The cooperative says the first batch of e-fuels will be ready as early as 2022, producing around 130,000 liters of the stuff. That capacity can allegedly be ramped up to about 55 million liters by 2024, and ten times that in 2026. Porsche will be the primary customer for the e-fuels, though some will be distributed to energy companies AME, ENAP, and Enel.

Porsche plans to develop and test these fuels in the crucible of motorsport, running initial tests on race tracks and in long-term vehicle trials, potentially moving to series production cars shortly thereafter.

The production of such an interesting fuel is made through an intense, multi-stage process. First of all, the project requires green energy from solar and wind installations to maintain its climate neutrality. This green energy powers a set of electrolysers which split water into its component parts, oxygen and hydrogen. Carbon dioxide is then filtered directly out of the air and bonded with the hydrogen to create synthetic methanol. Methanol can be further refined into a stable e-fuel for transport. This allows existing combustion vehicles to be operated in a nearly climate-neutral way.

This is intensely interesting as Porsche makes the transition to electric cars. It seems unlikely that the company’s sports car range will make that transition in the near future, so a carbon-neutral fuel to replace gasoline seems like it would be in Porsche’s best interest to develop as quickly as possible. If this comes to fruition, enthusiasts like us should rejoice, because we’ll have access to a clean fuel that doesn’t add to global climate change.

Porsche CEO Oliver Blume: “Electromobility is a top priority at Porsche. E-fuels for cars are a worthwhile complement to that – if they’re produced in parts of the world where a surplus of sustainable energy is available. They are an additional element on the road to decarbonization. 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. By using them, we can make a further contribution toward protecting the climate. As a maker of high-performance, efficient engines, we have broad technical expertise. We know exactly what fuel characteristics our engines need in order to operate with minimal impact on the climate. Our involvement in the world’s first commercial, integrated e-fuels plant supports the development of the alternative fuels of the future.”

Renewable methanol and gasoline products sound intensely interesting, and maybe even a little bit promising. If the technology does pan out, we could see gasoline-powered Porsches sticking around a bit longer than we initially thought.

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