Porsche 911: climate neutral. Photo: Porsche
The shift to electric cars is well and truly there, and most of us will be driving battery-powered vehicles sooner or later. But while this will go a long way toward reducing emissions from our daily commutes, there will still be some people clinging to the cold, dying corpse of the internal combustion engine. And this is exactly where the Porsche factory for synthetic fuels in Chile comes in.
The site has been a work in progress between Porsche and Chilean startup HIF Global for some time. The pilot plant was part of Porsche’s initial $22 million investment in the synthetic fuels startup before adding another $75 million to the deal earlier this year. But what did Porsche buy with all that money?
Well, first is the pilot plant, which has now started pumping synthetic fuel in Chile. To do this, the site combines carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere with water (H2O) to form synthetic gas (C8H18). The process runs on electricity generated by wind turbines at the facility and its only by-product is oxygen (O2).
The ceremonial refueling, performed by Michael Steiner (R) and Barbara Frenkel (L). Photo: Porsche
The first fuel to drip from the facility’s taps was used at a “celebratory refueling” of a Porsche 911 by Porsche board members Michael Steiner and Barbara Frenkel.
Steiner, Member of the Board of Management for Development and Research at Porsche, said: “The potential of eFuels is huge. There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with internal combustion engines worldwide.
“Many of these will be on the road for decades to come, and eFuels offer owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative. As a manufacturer of powerful and efficient engines, Porsche has extensive know-how in the field of fuels.”
The Porsche plant in Chile is powered by wind. Photo: Porsche
Now that it’s online, the Chilean plant will begin producing about 130,000 liters (34,342 gallons) of synthetic fuel per year. As testing continues, this gas will be used by Porsche in its Mobil 1 Supercup racing series and in the Porsche Experience Centers.
After the pilot phase, Porsche plans to expand production at the site to 55 million liters per year by the middle of the decade. Two years later, the automaker says production capacity is expected to reach 550 million liters (145.3 million gallons).