Porsche Breaks Ground On Low-Carbon eFuel Plant In Chile

[cawimmer430]

HELL YEAH! 



Porsche Breaks Ground On Low-Carbon eFuel Plant In Chile

A plant in northern Patagonia intended to make eFuel that can substitute gas in internal combustion engines has started construction today. The plant, backed by Porsche, Siemens Energy, and others, could reduce CO2 emissions of combustion engines by as much as 90 percent, the automaker claims.



The pilot plant is being built north of Puntas Arenas in Chile. Set to start producing eFuel in 2022, it's expected to make around 130,000 liters (34,342 US gallons) that year. Furthermore, it is expected to produce around 55 million liters (14.5 million gallons) by 2024 and 550 million liters (145 million gallons) by 2026.

To do that, the plant will use green wind energy to power electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will then be combined with CO2 filtered out from the air to produce synthetic methanol that can be converted into eFuel.

Thanks to the green energy being used to power it, Porsche says that the plant is nearly emissions-free. The brand plans to use the fuel, at first, to power its Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race cars from 2022.

"Porsche was founded with pioneering spirit," said Michael Steiner, head of R&D at Porsche. "That's what drives us, we thrive on innovation. We also see ourselves as pioneers when it comes to renewable fuels, and we want to drive development forward."

Although Porsche maintains that it is committed to electric power, eFuel could be crucial to help keep the historic company's classic cars on the road. The company says that 70 percent of all the cars it has ever built are still on the road. Its most recognizable model, the 911, could also depend on eFuel, since Porsche has previously said that it would be its last model to get an electric powertrain – if at all.

Nevertheless, some aren't convinced by a wider rollout of eFuels. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in May argued that since hydrogen and eFuels need a great amount of power to be made, they are risky technologies, environmentally speaking.

"We are currently far from 100% renewable electricity," Romain Sacchi, a member of the study team, told The Guardian at the time. "If produced with the current electricity mixes [in Europe], hydrogen-based fuels would increase – not decrease – greenhouse gas emissions, [compared with] using fossil fuels."




Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2021/09/porsche-and-partners-break-ground-on-low-carbon-efuel-plant-in-chile/

[MX793]

Can't wait to see how much that stuff costs.

145 million gallons is enough to power roughly 362,000 cars for roughly 10,000 miles each.  There are 46 million cars in Germany alone.

To slice it another way...

Porsche has built over 1 million 911s.  If we assume 750,000 are still on the road, 145 million gallons per year would be enough to supply every 911 with 193 gallons per year.  At an average fuel consumption of 25 mpg, that would support less than 5,000 miles per year.

[SJ_GTI]

Its an interesting experiment. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

IMHO regular gasoline will be around for decades (if not centuries) so I am not particularly worried about having it around for classic cars, but we'll see.

[CaminoRacer]

Its an interesting experiment. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

IMHO regular gasoline will be around for decades (if not centuries) so I am not particularly worried about having it around for classic cars, but we'll see.

Yeah, I don't think it's a big worry. Nor are classic cars a large source of pollution that really needs to be addressed yet. Plenty of larger fish to fry first.

[FoMoJo]

If they must do it, that's the way to do it.

[cawimmer430]

Can't wait to see how much that stuff costs.

Our carbon tax will potentially increase fuel prices next year to 2-3 Euros PER LITER. If that's the price we're gonna end up paying for eFuels then it's "no big deal" in that regard. I'm hoping the economies of scale will make the fuel cheaper, but don't forget we're in tax-fetish Germany where they have a tax for everything and where a liter of fuel has FOUR TAXES on it.

145 million gallons is enough to power roughly 362,000 cars for roughly 10,000 miles each.  There are 46 million cars in Germany alone.

To slice it another way...

Porsche has built over 1 million 911s.  If we assume 750,000 are still on the road, 145 million gallons per year would be enough to supply every 911 with 193 gallons per year.  At an average fuel consumption of 25 mpg, that would support less than 5,000 miles per year.

The good news is that synthetic fuels are being considered for mass production by the conservative political parties in Germany (CDU, FDP and AfD). It's the left-wing eco extremists (SPD [socialists], Greens [eco terrorist Germany-hating wannabe progressive liberals] and Die Linke [former SED communist party which ran East Germany]) which want to tax the hell out of mobility and force everyone to give up their car.

I still believe there is a market for synthetic fuels. It can power everything from current and older ICE cars to airplanes, helicopters, military machines, ships, lawn mowers etc.

[Laconian]

No matter what your political stripes are, you can't change the laws of thermodynamics.

[cawimmer430]

No matter what your political stripes are, you can't change the laws of thermodynamics.

I know, I know... but does it really matter if these eFuels are made using "renewable energy"?

I've said it before (and the idea has been proposed numerous times by supporters of eFuels in Germany) that we should be using the excess energy from wind and solar to produce eFuels or hydrogen. Instead, Germany pays it neighbors to take our excess energy and use it in their grid system. Absolutely retarded and embarrassing but that's a hallmark of Merkel Germany.