THE SUBJECT HAS BEEN BUILDING momentum for a number of years, but now it has entered the mainstream. Synthetic fuel, or efuel as it is also known, is no longer a niche subject. With Porsche one of the first car manufacturers to commit and invest in efuel development, evo has visited its pilot production facility in Chile to see first-hand how this type of alternative fuel could play a large role in the internal combustion engine’s future.
To recap, efuel is a gasoline that’s made entirely from clean energy (wind and water in the case of Porsche’s) and can be used in any internal combustion engine, with no modifications needed. It requires no mining of fossils to make but instead removes CO2 from the atmosphere during its manufacture, hence why Porsche refers to it as a ‘virtually carbon neutral’ fuel.
It’s made by splitting the hydrogen frommachine called an electrolyser. Ideally this should be powered entirely by renewable energy, which at the plant in southernmost Chili means a Siemens turbine harnessing the consistently strong wind.
