‘Virtually impossible’: e-fuel cars must meet this requirement after 2035

After 2035, a car running on so-called e-fuel must be able to detect for itself whether e-fuel or traditional fuel has actually been refuelled. If the latter is the case, the car must independently prevent the engine from being started. Car manufacturers are not only required to install a complex sensor that monitors the composition of the fuel, but must also ensure that the sensor cannot be disabled with a laptop and an OBD scanner. So ‘tamper-proof’.

None of this is yet official, but it would appear from a European bill seen by Reuters. However, the most important rule, which is also potentially the most dangerous for e-fuel cars, does not have to do with the cars themselves. The proposal would also include a requirement that an e-fuel car be ‘100 percent climate neutral’, including when the production process of the car and fuel is taken into account. In a response, the eFuel Alliance told Reuters that this is ‘almost impossible’ and would therefore make the e-fuel exception ‘de facto’ irrelevant. It remains to be seen to what extent this soup is really eaten that hot.

The e-fuel exception came under pressure from several European countries, with Germany as the leader. This creates an exception to the rule that every new car sold in the EU from 2035 must be fully electric. In principle, synthetic fuels can be used in a climate-neutral manner in combustion engines, because the CO2 released during combustion is removed from the air during the production process. In practice, however, there are some pitfalls. Proponents of e-fuels point out, among other things, that the undoubtedly very large ‘fuel fleet’ in 2035 can be made climate neutral with synthetic fuels. For a brand like Porsche, it is undoubtedly also a factor that the fuel engine can be saved in this way for a model like the 911, while Germany as a whole hopes that the knowledge, skills and lead in the field of fuel engines do not have to be completely lost.