Porsche's Synthetic eFuel Plant Opens in Chile
The pilot phase will see the creation of some 34,000 gallons of this green fuel.
Porsche is leaning into electrification, but the automaker realizes that not every vehicle will become electric overnight. For those folks, Porsche believes that synthetic fuel will dramatically reduce carbon emissions. And to help prove that, it's launched a pilot facility in Chile to produce this green gas.
Porsche this week announced the opening of its eFuel pilot plant. Located in the south of Chile, this facility generates eFuel from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy. In fact, this plant's location was chosen specifically because of how windy the area is, giving the eFuel plant the energy supply it needs to keep cranking out barrels.
The first phase of the pilot plant will result in the creation of around 34,000 gallons of eFuel. Porsche will use this fuel in the Mobil 1 Supercup racing series, in addition to fueling vehicles at its Porsche Experience Centers. By the middle of the decade, Porsche hopes to ramp production up to 14.5 million gallons per year, eventually scaling up to 145 million gallons per year at full clip a few years after that.
"There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide," said Michael Steiner, Porsche's board member in charge of research and development, in a statement. "Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come, and eFuels offer the owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative."
