IGNITION
As Porsche invests millions in the production of synthetic fuels for ICE cars, we take a look at where these ‘efuels’ might be used, and catch up with how other modes of transportation are tackling of the challenge of going green
The story behind Porsche’s efuel adventure, details of the next AMG C63, news about the 2021 evo trackday season and a look at the cars of Prodrive’s David Richards
PORSCHE ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT it is investing $24million in a plant to produce carbon-neutral synthetic fuel for its internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. It is the first car maker to do so, and it looks like a smart move. The annual output from the plant in Chile, South America, is expected to be 55million litres by 2024, ramping up to 500million by 2026, and Porsche will be the sole customer, using it at its ‘Porsche Experience’ driving centres and to fuel its motorsport championships.
This season’s F1-supporting Porsche Supercup Championship will trial an Exxonmobil-developed biofuel under race conditions, then in 2022 synthetic ‘efuel’ components will be added. However, Porsche is not banking on governments around the world allowing road-going ICE vehicles a stay of execution, even though they too could be powered by carbonneutral efuels. Many governments have announced bans on the sale of new diesel and petrol powered vehicles, and since we looked at synthetic fuels a year ago (evo 271) the UK government has brought its deadline forward another five years, to 2030.
Porsche’s plans for electrification of its range remain unchanged; just a month after announcing its Chilean efuel venture, it announced a further $70million investment in Rimac Automobili, the Croatian EV supercar specialist, taking its stake to 24 per cent. Porsche’s stated aim is for 50 per cent of its range to be EV or hybrid by 2025. Its next EV will be the Macan and the company is already talking about an electric Cayman.
That said, Porsche has also stated that it would like to keep making the 911, the model that has outlived every other road car it has so far made. Efuel-powered motorsport and experience centres offer the chance to keep running 911s and other ICE models. Both are conducted away from the public road and so not subject to governmental control, though being powered by efuel their emissions will have zero environmental impact anyhow. Given the choice, who wouldn’t prefer to watch and hear (carbon-neutral) flat-six 911s battling on classic race circuits rather than Formula E single-seaters on temporary city circuits?
Bentley, also a part of the Volkswagen Group of course, revealed that it is also looking at synthetic fuels. ‘We think the combustion engine will be around for a long time yet,’ said its engineering chief, Matthias Rabe, ‘and if that’s the case, then we think there can be a significant environmental advantage from synthetic fuels. We’re positive about this technology.’
Efuels are carbon neutral because they are made from renewable energy. The plant in Chile exploits abundant local wind power and uses the energy to capture carbon from CO2 in the atmosphere, extract hydrogen from water by electrolysis, and synthesise them to make a renewable, synthetic hydrocarbon. Efuel is much purer than the equivalent fuel derived from crude oil and so is better for engines, which can use it straight from the pump.
Another big advantage of efuel is that it can ‘drop in’, that’s to say it can be added to regular petrol and diesel using established transport and distribution networks. As soon as this happens, it starts to reduce CO2 emissions, and there’s a good case for this because it’s estimated that half of the cars on our roads in 2030 will still be ICE. Also, efuels can help reduce emissions from shipping and aviation, which are unsuited to battery electrification.
On the downside, efuels take a lot of energy to make, but this will be less of an issue as the supply of renewables increases. However, areas with vast natural resources such as wind and solar power aren’t necessarily close to the energy demand. That’s why one of the partners in the Chilean venture, Siemens Energy, is in receipt of a grant of 8million euros from the German ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. ‘New supply chains are going to emerge all over the world to carry renewable energy from one region to another,’ says Christian Bruch, CEO of Siemens Energy. ‘Hydrogen will play an increasingly important role in storing and transporting energy, which is why the German government’s support for the project is an important signal.’ Germany is a net importer of energy.
Could the fabled ‘hydrogen economy’ finally be approaching, then? Seven companies – ACWA Power, CWP Renewables, Envision, Iberdrola, Ørsted, Snam and Yara – have recently formed a coalition with the ambition of increasing the production of green hydrogen fiftyfold in the next six years, to help transform the most carbon intensive industries: power generation, chemicals, steelmaking and shipping.
It’s a difficult material to transport and use in its most energy-dense, liquid form, which is why it sometimes starts as ammonia, itself a hazardous liquid but one which can be transported more easily, before undergoing another chemical process at its destination to become hydrogen.
That’s what makes the proposal by materials scientists in Dresden, Germany, so interesting.
They think they have created a much safer way of containing and releasing hydrogen, by combining it with magnesium and stabilisers in a roomtemperature, grey paste. The plan is for the paste to be supplied in cartridges, then squeezed like toothpaste into a chamber with water to release hydrogen, half of which comes from the water, to power a fuel cell.
The electric truck race
While electrified shipping and aviation continue to make slow progress, it seems that electrified longhaul trucking is getting closer.
Tesla’s plan to deliver the Semi, its ‘Class 8’ (think 18-wheeler) long-haul electric truck, appears to be on track again with an announcement from Pepsico that it is expecting to take delivery of 15 Semis by the end of the year. The Semi is integral to Pepsico’s ambition to make its California plant carbon neutral. Around the same time we should get an update of the Semi’s technical specification, which rival Daimler Truck AG has previously described as defying the laws of physics.
Daimler is developing its own Class 8 electric truck, the Mercedes-benz eactros Longhaul. There’s already a non-articulated eactros for heavy urban use, with a 200km (124-mile) range, currently undergoing field trials and due for launch this year. The Semi-rivalling version with a 500km (311-mile) range is slated for 2024.
Daimler has also revealed a fuel-cell/electric long-haul truck, the Genh2 Truck, which is expected to begin trials in 2023. The Genh2 carries two tanks of liquid hydrogen at -253deg C, which is fed into two fuel cells that convert it to electric power. The motors can also be powered by a relatively modest battery pack, which is there to supplement the fuel cells when the truck needs extra power, say for gradients. Excess fuel-cell power and regenerative braking charge up the pack, which, being lighter than the eactros pack, contributes to a greater payload.
Late last year, Daimler Truck, IVECO, OMV, Shell and the Volvo Group agreed to collaborate on creating the conditions needed for the mass roll-out of hydrogen long-haul trucks in Europe. ☒
‘MERCEDES’ FUEL-CELL TRUCK CARRIES LIQUID HYDROGEN AT -253DEG C’