Around half of the vehicles rolling on the roads in 2030 are already in their vehicles today - the vast majority of them with internal combustion engines. So electric mobility alone can not reach the climate goals of transport. It needs fuels for the burners, which are not made from petroleum and which suppress carbon dioxide pollution - the so-called e-fuels.
Bosch has now formulated seven arguments that show that e-fuels are part of the mobility mix of the future:
Time
E-Fuels have long since emerged from basic research. Technically, it is already possible today to produce synthetic fuels: using electricity from renewable energies, hydrogen is first produced from water. In addition, carbon is needed. From CO₂ and H₂ you then win synthetic fuels - ie gasoline, diesel, gas or kerosene.
The production processes are established. However, capacities need to be rapidly expanded to meet demand. Investment incentives could be created through fuel quotas, the crediting of CO₂ savings by e-fuels on fleet consumption and long-term planning security.
climate neutrality
e-Fuels are produced exclusively with renewable energies, such as sun or wind - hence the "e" in the name. In addition, the CO₂ used in the production ideally comes from the ambient air. This turns the greenhouse gas into a raw material. The result is a cycle: the CO₂ produced and emitted during the combustion of e-fuels can, so to speak, be recycled and used for the production of new e-fuel. For example, vehicles powered by synthetic fuel are climate neutral.
Infrastructure and drive technology
For example, e-fuels produced in the Fischer-Tropsch process can be used in existing infrastructures and current engines. Experts then talk about "drop-in" fuels. They have an immediate effect on the stock and thus faster than would be possible with a renewal of infrastructure and vehicles. They can also be mixed with conventional fuel and thus already contribute to the CO₂ reduction in the existing vehicle fleet, if they can not yet be produced nationwide. Even classic cars, for example, produce synthetically produced gasoline for driving - it still remains from the chemical structures and basic properties of gasoline.
Costs
Still, the production of synthetic fuels is expensive. With the construction of larger production capacities as well as decreasing costs for the production of renewable electricity, e-fuels become significantly cheaper. According to studies, fuel costs from 2030 to 1,20 Euro per liter (excl. Tax) can be realized up to 1,40, even 2050 costs just one Euro. The cost disadvantage compared to fossil fuels could be significantly reduced if the environmental benefits of e-fuels were added to their value. The fact that existing infrastructure and vehicle technology can be used is an advantage over other alternative types of propulsion.
applications
Even if all cars and trucks will one day be powered by batteries or fuel cells, aircraft, ships and parts of freight traffic will continue to be fueled by conventional fuels. Internal combustion engines operated with CO₂-neutral synthetic fuels are therefore an indispensable path.
Resources
Tank or plate? This question does not arise with synthetic flow-based fuels. Innovative biofuels derived, for example, from waste materials make sense but are not available indefinitely. Renewable electricity can be used to produce e-fuels without limiting volumes. The need for renewable energy required for production can be generated worldwide, since storage and transport are easily possible.
Storage and transport
Synthetic fuels are produced using renewable energy. They are then in the form of gas or liquid. In this respect, it is possible with e-Fuels to store large quantities of renewable energy and transport them cheaply worldwide. Irregularities in solar or wind energy as well as regional restrictions on the expansion of renewable energies could be counteracted.
This is also interesting for the question of efficiencies: The efficiency of an electric vehicle of the compact class, which is charged in Germany with regenerative electricity from Germany, is about 60 to 70 percent. If the electricity comes from more distant regions and has first to be converted into a chemical energy source for transport and then back-converted, the efficiency drops to 20 to 25 percent. This corresponds to the efficiency of a vehicle powered by e-fuel.
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In considering the costs of production, transport and storage, the economic argument should also be taken into account. e-Fuels replace oil imports and import for lithium as well as rare earth for battery production. E-fuel is a step towards energy autonomy.