Porsche executive board members Barbara Frenkel and Michael Steiner fuel up a Porsche 911 with e-fuel produced at a newly opened plant in Chile on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Porsche
Dec. 20 (UPI) — A Porsche 911 was filled up with e-fuel Tuesday at a newly opened plant in Chile where the German luxury car maker will double down on its efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.
The e-fuel produced at the ‘Haru Oni’ pilot plant in Punta Arenas is a synthetic product made from water and captured carbon dioxide combined with hydrogen. It is produced with wind energy in the southern region of the South American country where wind blows about 270 days a year.
Porsche partnered with Chilean company Highly Innovative Fuels to begin production of e-fuels at the plant.
“The potential of eFuels is huge. There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide,” said Michael Steiner, member of the executive board for development and research.
“Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come, and eFuels offer the owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative. As the manufacturer of high-performance, efficient engines, Porsche has a wide range of know-how in the field of fuels.”
About 34,000 gallons of fuel will be produced per year during the pilot phase of the project, before ramping up production to about 14 million gallons per year in 2025. Production will then multiply tenfold by the end of the decade.
In the beginning, the fuel will be used to power Porsche cars competing in motor sports, such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, and in continued research projects.
Porsche invested about $100 million into the production of e-fuels so far, with more expected to come as the company continues to shift its focus to an environmentally conscious business model.
“Looking at the entire traffic sector, the industrial production of synthetic fuels should keep being pushed forward worldwide,” said Barbara Frenkel, member of Porsche’s executive board for procurement.
Car and Driver writes that Porsche has been looking into the production of e-fuels in Chile for at least five years.