While the public comes to accept that we’re facing the sunset of the fossil fuel era, Porsche is making moves of its own, investing around $100 million US dollars to develop eFuel facilities in Australia, Chile and the United States.
Key to that investment is a stake in HIF Global LLC, a holding company of internationally active project developers of eFuel production facilities The sports car manufacturer initially plans to use the eFuel from Chile in motorsport flagship projects.
In the future, it is also conceivable that they will be used to fuel the company’s own vehicles with combustion engines during initial fuelling at the factory, and at Porsche Experience Centres.
“eFuels make an important contribution to climate protection and complement our electromobility in a meaningful way,” Porsche Procurement board member Barbara Frenkel said.
“Synthetic fuels offer attractive prospects across transportation sectors, from the automotive industry to the aviation and shipping sectors,” R&D board member Michael Steiner added.
“We see ourselves as pioneers in eFuels and want to drive the technology. This is one building block in our clear, overall sustainability strategy.”
As we’ve seen in the past, motorsport is the perfect testing ground for cutting edge technology and this is case here too. Porsche has already been testing renewable fuels for some time, confirming lab and track tests are running successfully.
Could this mean we get continue to enjoy the howl of a GT product at 9,000rpm? That idea alone seems worth every investment penny spent. Porsche’s stake in HIF Global LLC is subject to approvals by relevant antitrust authorities.
