Here's How Porsche Plans To Make Millions Of Gallons Of eFuel From Water

Electric vehicles have all the spotlight in 2022, and EVs are likely the path that most automakers are going to follow. Several manufacturers have already released plans to switch entire lineups to battery power in the next few years. For example, Mercedes wants to accomplish that feat in 2030. Hydrogen fuel cell technology has also proved promising (if developmentally far away), as has using solar panels to lessen the strain on power grids. Tesla has multiple pieces of solar technology that can be used to not only power your house, but work in sync with charging your EV.

While still in its infancy, eFuels are another potentially promising technology to divert automakers away from relying on the environmentally costly fossil fuels that power most conventional engines. Essentially, eFuel is synthetically produced gasoline made to run in the internal combustion engines of cars. Porsche is a huge proponent and researcher of eFuel technology, and has put a lot of time, effort, and money into making eFuel a feasible technology.

Porsche is working with Siemens Energy — another German company committed to finding high tech solutions for energy independence — to synthesize as much eFuel as possible. According to a press release from Porsche, the automaker is using a plant in Chile to produce synthetic gasoline from two extremely common materials: water and carbon dioxide. If that process takes off the ground and proves to be possible on a much larger scale, it could have wide-reaching ramifications with how everyone buys gasoline.

Porsche still plans on making EVs in the future. Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche says, "We urgently need a solution for operating existing fleets of vehicles in a sustainable way. This goal can be achieved with green fuels, which are a sensible complement to electric vehicles." All the Porsche Taycan fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

For this year, Porsche says the Chilean plant will make 130,000 liters of synthetic fuel that the automaker will then buy and use for racing. However, according to Car and Driver, Porsche hopes to produce millions of gallons of synthetic gasoline in just a few years.