Porsche focus on efuel with Chilean plant opening

The march to save the combustion engine via the production of less damaging synthetic fuel has taken another step forward as Porsche open a production plant in Chile.

Synthetic or eFuels are made from water and carbon from waste plant materials using wind energy and enable the almost CO2-neutral operation of petrol engines.

Currently, however, they are between two to three times more expensive to manufacture than fossil-based fuels, but with more investment from large manufacturers such as Porsche (and Triumph), they could soon be cost effective.

The German sports car specialists are a member of the Volkswagen Group, which also includes Italian marque Ducati.

Barbara Frenkel, member of the Executive Board for Procurement at Porsche, said: “Porsche is committed to a double-e path: e-mobility and eFuels as a complementary technology. Using eFuels reduces CO2 emissions.”

Michael Steiner, member of Porsche’s Executive Board for Development and Research, added: “The potential of eFuels is huge. There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide.

“Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come, and eFuels offer the owners of existing cars [and motorcycles] a nearly carbon-neutral alternative.

“As the manufacturer of high-performance, efficient engines, Porsche has a wide range of know-how in the field of fuels.”

Initially eFuel production of around 130,000 litres per year is planned and will be used in projects such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and at Porsche experience centres.

After the pilot phase, the first scaling-up process will take place with a projected 55 million litres per year being produced by the middle of the decade.

Around two years later the capacity is expected to reach 550 million litres.