Eco-experts say ‘e-fuels’ are a busted flush

The car industry’s plans to create carbon-neutral so-called e-fuels have been rubbished by influential eco think tank Transport & Environment (T&E). The Brussels-based lobbying group has estimated that by 2035 there would only be enough capacity to supply e-fuel for 2 per cent of the cars on the road.

What is an e-fuel? Essentially, it’s a liquid hydrocarbon made by combining carbon taken from the atmosphere with hydrogen made from separating water into its constituent parts. The Fischer-Tropsh process then converts those two gases into a liquid which, with a bit of refining, becomes a form of petrol.

The idea behind such fuels is that because they extract carbon already in the atmosphere, they only return that carbon to the air when burned. Assuming that the manufacturing process uses renewable energy, the resulting fuel is then, in theory, carbon-neutral. Carmakers from Porsche to Mazda have touted e-fuels as being a way to clean up existing combustion cars and to allow the creation of “clean” petrol-engined models into the future.

Riding to the rescue

Porsche has already begun small-scale production of e-fuels for use in some of its racing cars, and is — with Siemens — investing in an e-fuels plant based in Chile. Formula One has said that from 2026, all of the racing cars involved in that series will run on e-fuels or other forms of renewable fuel.

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T&E says that predictions of e-fuels riding to the rescue of combustion engines are rubbish and that the petroleum industry’s own figures prove it to be so. “The production of e-fuels, which are chemically similar to petrol and diesel, will still be in its infancy by the time of Europe’s planned phase-out of sales of internal combustion cars.”

Just five million cars out of the EU’s projected fleet of 287 million could fully run on synthetic fuel in 2035, according to T&E’s analysis of the volumes forecasted by the industry. T&E said e-fuels in cars are a Trojan Horse for oil companies and engine makers to delay the transition to zero-emission technologies. It called on EU politicians to resist industry pressure for an e-fuels loophole in the phase-out rules” Yoann Gimbert, e-mobility analyst at T&E, said “e-fuels are presented as a carbon-neutral way to prolong the life of combustion engine technology. But the industry’s own data shows there will only be enough for a tiny fraction of cars on the road. Lawmakers should close the door to this Trojan Horse for the fossil fuel industry.”

T&E also claims that the background figures for e-fuels are muddled and that it’s not clear whether or not carbon capture from polluting industry is involved, nor which producers will actually be able to make the fuels with truly 100 per cent renewable electricity. The lobby group also noted that e-fuels have been shown to be more polluting in an air-quality sense than “normal” petrol, that they would be far more expensive to run than an electric car, and that they would drive up demand for electricity by about 36 per cent over and above the increased demand for electric vehicles.

One proponent of e-fuel continues to claim that they’re a useful adjunct to vehicle electrification. Oliver Blume has just taken over one of the biggest jobs in motoring, as the new chairman of the Volkswagen Group board.

Driving force

Along with the top job in the group, Blume is chief executive of Porsche and was one of the driving forces of that company’s move into e-fuels.

”Climate protection has to be seen holistically. That’s why we need to be open in terms of technology. Electromobility is an important track. At the same time, there are more than a billion existing vehicles worldwide. They will be on the roads for decades to come. E-fuels are an effective, complementary solution in this regard. They can enable all vehicles to play a role in reducing CO2 — regardless of the powertrain type. Combustion engines can be powered with e-fuels in a virtually carbon-neutral manner. They don’t have to be converted or retrofitted for it. E-fuels can be offered as an admixture or alone at all filling stations. We have to offer an option to the owners of existing vehicles too,” said Blume when discussing e-fuels. “If produced on an industrial scale, prices of less than $2 per litre could be possible. The important thing is that synthetic fuels are produced sustainably and in places in the world where renewable energy is abundant — then the higher energy input for production is irrelevant.”

Blume’s defence of e-fuels may well fall on deaf ears, however. Earlier this year, the EU Council rubber-stamped proposals put forward by the commission and parliament to enforce the 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion-engined cars and chose not to incorporate e-fuels into official future plans. Only a last-ditch effort by the German government succeeded in keeping e-fuels on the table as a possible route to decarbonising transport. The council asked the commission to deliver a report by 2026 on whether e-fuels will be worth the candle.