Porsche Heavily Invests In EFuels. Here Are More Details

PSUVs are now Porsche’s best-selling cars, a far cry from the small, agile, and most importantly distinctive rear-engine sports cars like the 911 that established the luxury brand’s reputation.

The famous German automaker is now faced with the challenge of preserving its distinct brand identity and connection to its illustrious past in the era of electric vehicles. They are currently contemplating what is known as eFuel, which is fuel produced in a factory using carbon taken from the atmosphere.

Over $100 million has been put into developing eFuels by Porsche. The organization contends that completely switching its 1.4 billion-vehicle global fleet to electric vehicles will take excessively lengthy to meet environmental change moderation goals, so it has chosen to go this new course.

A proposed ban on internal combustion engines, which would take effect in 2035, included an exception for eFuels at the end of March. The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.

“With this approach we have another lever, another opportunity to reduce the CO2 footprint for the combustion engine-driven cars,” said Karl Dums, senior manager of eFuels at Porsche. Before he joined the project, Dums was one of the engineers who worked on the Taycan, automaker’s first EV.

The Taycan, which debuted in 2019, has been an enormously successful product. It represents 11% of Porsche’s all out slaes and makes a profit, which is an uncommon accomplishment for an electric vehicle.

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Electric cars are more expensive to produce, so they are margin dilutive, and Porsche managed to increase the share of electric cars and increase the profitability in parallel.

Porsche plans to electrify 80% of its list of vehicles, but a few famous models — particularly the 911 — might in all likelihood never make the change.

If you want to maintain the same driving characteristics, it is difficult to electrify because of its architecture, engine, and weight distribution.

Additionally, Porsche believes that approximately 70% of its vehicles are still in use. The brand also is a #1 among collectors. Analysts in the industry believe that Porsche’s history, as reflected in these older models, contributes to the brand’s status and mystique and also helps the next generation of car enthusiasts.

However, opponents of Porsche’s $100 million investment in eFuels contend that the resulting fuel will be inefficient and too expensive to ever compete with electrification.

The ICCT expects EV expenses to keep on declining quickly, and arrive at buy cost equality with fuel vehicles and SUVs somewhere close to 2025 and 2030, contingent upon the vehicle.

“EFuels only make internal combustion engine vehicles more expensive. We’re finding that if we produce them today, it would cost something like $10 a gallon at the pump for consumers”, Searle, an expect said.

However, Porsche claims that prices can be reduced to a level that is acceptable to at least those customers who are willing to pay more to keep high-end sports cars and classic cars on the road for years to come.

Credit: CNBC