Automotive Engineering - March 2025 - 8

TECHNOLOGY
REPORT
GREEN ENERGY
The international fight over eFuels, internal combustion's
would-be savior
SAE INTERNATIONAL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Robert Ireland
President
Jenny Bush
2026 President
Carla Bailo
2024 President
Christopher Payne
Vice President - Aerospace
Alba Colon
Vice President - Automotive
Audley Brown
Vice President -
Commercial Vehicle
David Andrea
Treasurer
Porsche invested $75 million in Chilean eFuels company HIF Global in 2022.
Efuels, synthetic gasolines made from captured
carbon dioxide and renewable energy (usually
wind and solar power), are " a valuable part of
the solution, " said Aston Martin CEO Adrian
Hallmark at a press briefing in New York on
January 31. He described the process of creating
the fuel as " really clean, " but also cited a
rather off-putting price: $31 a gallon in the U.S.
Still, Hallmark thinks eFuels could be a way
for Aston to continue producing at least a few
V12-powered cars in the coming electric future.
Other automakers agree, but the battle over
eFuels has by no means reached a cease-fire.
In 2022, Porsche invested $75 million in a
Chilean company called HIF Global, which is
producing eFuel at a wind power-connected
plant in Patagonia. Interest in eFuel has been
growing since 2023, when the German contingent
began a successful push for the European
Union to add an eFuel loophole into the 2035
regulations restricting ICE vehicle sales.
Europe hosts the eFuel Alliance, which
counts Porsche, Mazda and Suzuki as members
(with BMW a recent addition), as well as airline
Lufthansa and supplier Bosch. Tobias Block,
the Alliance's chief strategy officer, told SAE
Media that his group is in " close discussions "
with other automakers about joining.
Block described Europe's current rules for
2035 and eFuels as " quite a mess, " basically
banning ICE vehicles that produce any tailpipe
emissions, even those that are 100% powered
by eFuels. But those eFuel rules remain in flux.
8 March 2025
Block said that the initial proposals were tightly
restrictive, requiring eFuel to be 100% carbon
neutral across the whole product cycle.
Under those rules, " a 100% reduction in emissions
is nearly impossible, " the Alliance's managing
director, Ralf Diemer, said in 2023.
Oliver Zipse, chairman of BMW's board of
management, said last June that the EU might
not be serious about allowing eFuels. " We see
a significant risk of eFuels being politically instrumentalized
in the debate about the ban on
combustion engines from 2035, " he said.
" There are currently many indications that
the EU Commission is striving for a bogus
solution in which the ban on combustion engines
is relaxed simply by ostensibly opening
up to eFuels. However, if it then does nothing
to accelerate the ramp-up of low-CO2 fuels
and make their use practicable, this would be
a deliberate ban on combustion engines
through the back door. We continue to believe
that a categorical ban on combustion
technology is wrong. "
A categorical ban is just what some environmentalists
are after. The group Transport &
Environment, based in Brussels, said that allowing
eFuel cars would permit them to " still emit
around five times more CO2 emissions than
equivalent EV models. Additionally, e-petrol
cars emit air pollutants, including toxic nitrogen
oxides (NOx) and carcinogenic particles... eFuel
cars should not be designated as zero-emission
for the purposes of regulatory compliance given
Dr. Jacqueline El-Sayed
Chief Executive Officer
Gregory L. Bradley, Esq.
Secretary
Judy Curran
Mary Lee Gambone
Daniel Nicholson
Michele Kaiser
SAE International Sections
SAE International Sections are local
units comprised of 100 or more SAE
International Members in a defined
technical or geographic area. The purpose
of local Sections is to meet the technical,
developmental, and personal needs of the
SAE Members in a given area. For more
information, please visit sae.org/sections
or contact SAE Member Relations Specialist
Abby Hartman at abby.hartman@sae.org.
SAE International
Collegiate Chapters
Collegiate Chapters are a way for SAE
International Student Members to get
together on their campus and develop
skills in a student-run and -elected
environment. Student Members are vital
to the continued success and future of
SAE. While your course work teaches
you the engineering knowledge you
need, participation in your SAE Collegiate
Chapter can develop or enhance other
important skills, including leadership,
time management, project management,
communications, organization, planning,
delegation, budgeting, and finance. For
more information, please visit students.
sae.org/chapters/collegiate/ or contact
SAE Member Relations Specialist Abby
Hartman at abby.hartman@sae.org.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
HIF GLOBAL
http://www.sae.org/sections http://www.sae.org/chapters/collegiate/
Automotive Engineering - March 2025

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