Synthetic fuels, also referred to as ‘e-fuels’, are not good for the environment. This is stated by environmental organization Transport & Environment after conducting comparative tests between cars on regular and synthetic fuel. In fact, the artificial alternative to petrol seems to have even worse consequences for air quality.
It was not easy to run the test with synthetic fuel. Because the product is not yet commercially available, research organization IFP Energies Nouvelles had to produce 100 liters of the substance itself. The investigative body then carried out tests according to the official test cycle and in practice with a Mercedes-Benz A 180. The results are not really promising. According to T&E, a car running on synthetic fuel emits the same amount of NOx as a car running on E10 petrol and even three times as much carbon monoxide and twice as much ammonia. However, the emission of particulate matter fell by 80 to 90 percent when switching to synthetic fuel.
The comparison in NOX emissions. Source: T&E.
All in all, it seems that synthetic fuel is currently not much kinder to the environment than regular petrol or diesel. According to T&E, synthetic fuels also entail significant costs for motorists. According to the environmental organization, it currently costs a motorist €10,000 more over a period of five years to drive a car on synthetic fuel compared to an electric car. This is partly because e-fuels are still expensive to produce today. This production also has an impact on the energy supply, according to T&E. If 10 percent of all new cars run on synthetic fuel, 23 percent more renewable energy will have to be generated in Europe to be able to produce that fuel in a climate-neutral way.
Now T&E is not exactly known as a proponent of the internal combustion engine. Synthetic fuels are still under development and it is quite possible that a better composition will eventually be found that does provide environmental benefits. Porsche, among others, is investing in artificial fuel, but oil companies and motorsport, especially Formula 1, also seem to be moving towards it. For now, based on this research, things don’t look very rosy for the application of synthetic fuel in the car industry. Incidentally, T&E does not consider the e-fuels completely useless: they could, for example, be suitable for aircraft.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl