7 questions and answers about e-fuels

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The future of our car will be electric. In Europe, all manufacturers want to phase out combustion engine technology over the long term and run entirely electric – some sooner (Maserati 2025, Opel 2028), some later. But mostly before the planned legal ban on combustion engines from 2035 in the European Union (EU). But the issue is controversial: many experts and even the German Automotive Industry Association are demanding the approval of so-called e-fuels. give the internal combustion engine a backdoor, it can survive itself. With a corresponding exemption decision, the European Union de facto included it in the cremation ban after fierce resistance from Germany. But are these fuels actually an alternative to electric drives?

1. What are e-fuels?

Gasoline and diesel are distilled from crude oil and are chemically composed of natural hydrocarbons. When they burn, additional carbon dioxide (CO₂) previously bound in crude oil is released into the atmosphere. E-fuels, on the other hand, are fuels that are produced artificially with the help of renewable energies – so oil is not needed for their production. Instead, the necessary hydrocarbons are produced artificially. However, they can be used like conventional fuels in combustion engines or jet engines.

2. How are they produced?

A sufficient amount of renewable electricity from water, wind or solar energy is required for the production of synthetic fuel. For example, Porsche uses wind energy in its e-fuel project in Chile, which is available in large quantities in Patagonia but has almost no buyers in the sparsely populated region. Green electricity is used by electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water, which is then synthesized with CO₂ to form liquid crude oil. This CO₂ is taken from the atmosphere and is created as a waste product in biogas reactors or industrial production. The fuels can then be distilled from the artificially produced crude oil.

There are alternatives: Swiss company Synhelion, a subsidiary of ETH Zurich, uses heat from concentrated solar radiation as process heat to convert CO₂ and hydrogen into fuel. And Toyota is exploring synthetic fuel made from bioethanol without using raw materials from the food chain as it once was.

3. Are e-fuels CO₂ neutral?

In principle yes – however: In the production of e-fuels, CO₂ is used as a raw material exactly as much as is released when synthetic fuel is burned. If you just look at the fuel and its usage, there is a closed CO₂ cycle. However, only if 100 percent renewable electricity is used for production. And: Toxic exhaust gas components such as carbon monoxide or nitrogen oxides occur in similar amounts as conventional fuel; therefore, the exhaust gases have to be treated as in today’s cars.

4. E-fuels Porsche, Lamborghini & Co. Why is it important for

E-fuels are the only way to run internal combustion engines in a CO₂ neutral manner, even in existing vehicles. High-priced vehicles in particular are treated with care, and mostly classic ones: More than 70 percent of all Porsches ever built are still on the road, and e-fuels can make them run CO₂ neutral. And many brands are planning its use in motorsport: for example, if Audi enters Formula 1 in 2026, synthetic fuel could refute climate activists’ criticism of the racing series. And Porsche plans to fill newly produced vehicles with e-fuels before delivery.

5. Are e-fuels an alternative to electric propulsion in cars?

Energetically, absolutely not. If you compare the amount of renewable electricity used for generation with the energy efficiency based on the production process, only ten to 35 percent of the energy ends up in e-fuel due to the large number of conversion steps. At the same time, the efficiency of internal combustion engines is only about 35 percent, while the efficiency of electric motors is 96 percent or more. For this reason, natural power is used much more efficiently in electric cars than in internal combustion engines. But: Unlike natural electricity, e-fuels can be transported, stored and sold without complex infrastructures such as high-voltage lines and with current technology. Therefore, they can serve as a kind of temporary storage facility for surplus natural electricity that is not used immediately.

However, their greatest potential lies in ships and airplanes: Because of their high energy requirements, boats and airplanes can hardly be run on battery power. The batteries required for this would be very large, very heavy and very expensive. However, if ship diesel and jet engines use e-fuels, CO₂ emissions will drop significantly without the need for expensive new propulsion technology.

6. What is the cost of e-fuels?

Still too much to make them an acceptable alternative to petrol and diesel. Because although there are many companies in the market, the production facilities are still in the commissioning or testing phase. Price cannot be measured yet due to lack of market and availability. E-fuels for cars only make economic sense when their price falls below those of conventional fuels made from crude oil. However, larger quantities will need to be produced to take advantage of economies of scale when pricing. From 2026, Porsche plans an annual production of 550 million liters at its Chilean plant, corresponding to about 426,000 tons of e-fuel. For comparison: Switzerland alone consumed almost exactly five times as much, with 2.13 million tonnes of gasoline in 2021. Excluding the consumption of approximately 2.72 million tons of diesel.

7. What will happen to e-fuels with the ban on internal combustion engines?

In the summer, the EU Parliament decided to ban internal combustion engines in new cars from 2035. From this point on, new cars with petrol or diesel engines will not be able to be re-registered; Existing tools can continue to work. But by 2050, the entire EU wants to be completely climate neutral. Are e-fuels still allowed for new cars? In its proposed decision, the EU Commission initially only provided for new registration of electric cars; However, EU environment ministers later changed the phrase to “climate-neutral new cars” in the legislative process. There is currently a backdoor for e-fuels – though 27 member states have yet to agree on a definitive decision.

Source: Blick