There might still be a future for the internal combustion engine (ICE).

After announcing planned regulations that would see the sale of new fossil-fuel ICE vehicles banned from 2035, last month it was reported that the European Union had agreed to concessions that will allow such cars to continue to be sold provided they run on carbon neutral, synthetic, e-fuel.

The news agency Reuters reported that the European Commission has drafted a plan that includes the creation of a new type of vehicle category in the EU for cars that run on e-fuel. The draft includes, Reuters said, a proposal that such vehicles would have to use technology that would prevent them from driving if other fuels are used.

Synthetic, or e-fuels, are created by capturing carbon dioxide and using renewable energy to create hydrogen from water. Combined and then refined, the carbon and hydrogen can be made into e-fuel. While the resultant fuel still burns and releases carbon dioxide just like regular fossil fuels that are refined from oil extracted from the ground, the fact that it is man-made using carbon taken from the air and produced using renewable energy such as wind power, solar and so on, makes it carbon neutral.

Porsche has made headlines in recent months with its plant in Chile now producing e-fuel. It also has an e-fuel plant being built in Tasmania.

The world uses hundreds of billions of litres of fuel every year and the investment required to build enough e-fuel factories (in areas with enough wind or solar power) to create anywhere near enough of the synthetic fuel to keep the world’s ICE cars going would be colossal. However, a mix of potential power sources – be it battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, or synthetic fuels – that allow vehicles to be carbon neutral, must be a good thing.

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (April 2023)

12 April 2023