Berlin In hot July 2022, e-fuels even made it into the political cabaret. The ZDF program “Die Anstalt” reported on Porsche boss Oliver Blume. At the most recent works meeting, he proudly said that Christian Lindner, head of the FDP and Federal Minister of Finance, reported to him “almost every hour” about the fight for e-fuels in the traffic light coalition negotiations.
The reason for the interest in these innovative fuels: Porsche wants to switch to electric drive as a matter of principle. Only the legendary Porsche 911 will continue to drive with an internal combustion engine – in the future it will then use environmentally friendly, electrically based fuels, i.e. e-gasoline. Therefore, Porsche is building a factory in Chile to produce these fuels.
However, resistance to e-fuel in the EU is great. The final decision will be made after the summer break.
But what exactly are e-fuels, how environmentally friendly are they? We answer the most important questions:
What are e-fuels?
E-fuels (English: electrofuels) are synthetic fuels that can be used to operate an internal combustion engine. They are made from water and carbon dioxide (CO2) using electricity. This process is called “Power-to-X”. “Power” stands for electricity, the “X” either for petrol, diesel or kerosene. E-gasoline, e-diesel or e-kerosene could then be used as fuel in today’s engines without any problems.
Are e-fuels environmentally friendly?
In principle, the combustion of e-fuel generates just as many environmentally harmful exhaust gases as conventional fuels. However, if the electricity for production comes entirely from renewable sources and the necessary CO2 also comes from the atmosphere, biomass or industrial exhaust gases, i.e. is already available, their use would be climate-neutral – but only then.
Do e-fuels already exist today?
Synthetic fuels have so far been virtually inaccessible to normal customers. There are only smaller pilot plants for research and development that only produce minimal quantities. Porsche is the only German car manufacturer to invest in e-fuel production – primarily in the hope of being able to operate the legendary Porsche 911 for a long time to come.
In the windswept south of Chile, the company is building a plant for half a billion euros that will use wind power to produce e-fuels. The Ministry of Economics is supporting the project with a good eight million euros.
What is the energy balance of e-fuels?
In the production of electric-based fuels, several energy-guzzling conversion stages have to be passed through; Large amounts of electricity are required, especially for the production of hydrogen. Therefore, the energy balance of e-fuel cars is significantly worse than that of e-cars.
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According to the think tank Agora Energiewende, synthetic fuels achieve an efficiency of around 13 percent: So only 13 percent of the electrical energy used moves the vehicle. For e-cars it is 69 percent.
In other words, cars fueled with e-fuels use almost five times as much energy per kilometer as a battery car.
How expensive are e-fuels?
According to the federal government, the cost of electricity-based liquid fuels is at least 4.50 euros per liter of diesel equivalent, i.e. compared to one liter of diesel. The European Commission assumes that the production costs are three to six times higher than the market prices of fossil fuels.
However, since there are only pilot plants so far, it can be expected that production in large plants would be significantly cheaper. That depends above all on where e-fuels are produced and how expensive green electricity is there. This is the main reason for Porsche to produce in Chile, where the wind blows almost three times as much as on the North Sea.
However, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructure and Geothermal Energy assumes that the world market prices for green hydrogen produced from green electricity could triple by 2030. The import of e-fuels from sun or wind countries is therefore probably “not a cheap panacea”. It is true that e-fuel production in North Africa or the Middle East is attractive because of the many hours of sunshine.
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However, increasing capital and transportation costs could quickly diminish or even negate these advantages. The federal government expects that the costs for e-fuels “will definitely be significantly higher than those for fossil fuels for the foreseeable future up to the 2030s”.
Does the federal government promote e-fuels?
The traffic light government considers e-fuels to be “essential in order to achieve the climate goals in transport”, but above all for modes of transport that are “difficult to electrify”, i.e. aircraft for which the batteries required would be far too heavy.
In principle, the combustion of e-fuel generates just as many environmentally harmful exhaust gases as conventional fuels.
(Photo: imago images/photothek)
“In order to enable climate-neutral flying in the future,” she promotes both research and marketing of e-kerosene. However, due to production technology, certain quantities of e-diesel and e-gasoline are also produced during its production, which could then be used for ships or in road traffic, for example. In total, the federal government is funding more than 30 research projects for synthetic fuels and four projects for their production.
Are there guidelines for the use of e-fuels in Germany?
According to the law, aviation fuel must contain 0.5 percent e-kerosene from 2026. The share will then gradually increase to two percent by 2030. There are no direct specifications for cars, trucks or ships. However, there are rules that require fuel manufacturers to add a certain proportion of environmentally friendly fuels to gasoline and diesel. In the past, these were exclusively biofuels and can now also be e-fuels.
What will happen to the petrol and diesel engines registered before 2035?
The end of combustion engines in the EU from 2035 should only apply to new cars. Even according to optimistic estimates, there are still 30 million used combustion engines in Germany alone, which are only gradually disappearing.
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The proponents of e-fuels argue that climate change cannot be achieved if they are not then increasingly operated with e-fuel. Opponents believe that the use of e-fuels would ensure that the old combustion engines remain in operation longer than necessary.
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