BOOST FOR E FUELS

One of the great hopes for preserving the use of historic vehicles, e-fuels, has been given a boost, with Mazda suggesting that they should be considered as a viable alternative on the path to carbon-neutrality and can be used alongside electric vehicles.

Speaking at the recent Autocar Business Seminar, Mazda European Research Director Christian Schultze said: “We believe that e-fuels aren’t in competition with the electrification route but complement it. E-fuels can be used already on existing cars — and future cars. Let’s use the good points of both technologies to drive forward carbon-neutrality rather than betting on one technology.” Schultze predicted that e-fuels pricing would be on a par with petrol by 2030 in Europe, and that they be considered for similar subsidies to EVs. “We need to find solutions that lead us to the CO2-neutral target. What’s the reason for ruling out for technologies?” he asked.

Fellow speaker Steve Sapsford of automotive consultancy SCE added: “It’s not trying to replace our journey to electrification. Banning internal combustion engines might be picking a fight with the wrong enemy. Stopping our dependence on fossil fuels is where we should be focused.”

With Formula 1 planning to run on 100 per cent sustainable fuel from 2025 and companies including Audi, Bentley and Porsche already pointing to synthetic e-fuels as a way to power older cars long into the future, momentum is gathering for future solutions that could enable us to keep combustionengined classics on the road. Here’s hoping that proves to be the case.