Porsche will be almost wholly electrified in the coming years. Following the success of the Taycan, its first electric car, the Macan, Cayenne, Panamera, Cayman, and Boxster will lose their internal combustion engines throughout this decade. Everything seems to indicate that the only firm model that will not be fully electrified in the medium term will be 911, which will receive a plug-in hybrid variant.
However, the firm is also working on alternative solutions to electrification, including synthetic fuels. Frank Walliser, vice president of Porsche Motorsport and GT, explained in a recent interview that this technology would allow thermal vehicles to be as sustainable as an electric car.
“Synthetic fuel is cleaner, and there are no by-products; when we start full production, we expect a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 85%.” Walliser also affirms that if the emissions “from the wheel to the well” are taken into account, electric vehicles move in similar figures to thermal vehicles with synthetic fuels.
While Porsche does not see this solution as a replacement for battery electric vehicles, company leaders believe it will be a very solvent complement. “Electric mobility remains the top priority at Porsche. Synthetic fuels are a complement to the electrification of Porsche, not a rival.”
In 2022, Porsche will begin to produce synthetic fuel and plans to reach an approximate annual capacity of almost 550 million liters by 2026. To obtain these fuels, water will be divided into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolyzers, filtering carbon dioxide from the air to process it with hydrogen and thus get methanol, which will then be transformed into gasoline, following a process patented by Exxon Mobil.
Production will be carried out in collaboration with Siemens Energy, who Porsche partnered last year. The German brand claims that its synthetic fuel will allow all kinds of vehicles to work, from a 911 from several decades ago to a last-generation 911 GT3. A move that opens an exciting door to preserving classic vehicles once the bulk of the car park has been electrified.