Porsche board member Steiner dreams of e-fuels for the 911 from 2024 onward

Porsche stands for openness to technology when it comes to the mobility of the future: as recently as September, the sports car manufacturer announced its intention to invest in CO2-neutral synthetic fuels, so-called e-fuels. Now it is revealed that the plans are already very real. The current 911 generation could be running on e-fuels by 2024. Presumably much to the displeasure of the parent company.

Because Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess is entirely focused on battery-electric mobility. In a confidential statement from the Volkswagen Group to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, VW is even said to have wanted legal regulations that would commit the automotive industry to the exclusive production of all-electric vehicles: “According to this reading, e-fuels,” reports t3n.de, “would be best not developed at all.”

Within the group, Porsche’s march towards investing in e-fuels is quite surprising. Now Porsche has even gone further: According to “Automobilwoche,” Porsche’s Chief Development Officer Michael Steiner can imagine the Porsche 911 being powered by e-fuels as early as 2024.

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As recently as September, Steiner announced, “We have a team looking for suitable partners who want to build pilot plants with us and prove that the entire process chain works and can be industrialized.” Now Porsche developers have apparently taken a big step forward: Porsche plans to ramp up a pilot plant for the production of e-fuels in Chile. “If we make good progress, all new 911 Carrera cars sold worldwide could be powered by 100 percent e-fuels as early as 2024,” Michael Steiner said.

Looking at the current vehicle fleet, the Porsche manager said, “E-fuels have to work with existing engines from our point of view because our vehicles are driven for a very long time.” CO2-neutral fuels could thus be used in millions of vehicles in the future.

E-fuels are thus an excellent fit for the brand’s flagship, the “911.” As recently as October, Porsche boss Oliver Blume made it clear that the Porsche 911 was not a vehicle “suitable for electric mobility.” E-fuels, on the other hand, are apparently something they can definitely imagine at Porsche.

E-fuels also enjoy a high level of acceptance in the sports driving scene-at least in theory: Already today, 76.7 percent of trackday drivers can imagine using synthetic fuels or e-fuels, according to a community survey conducted by Trackdaysport at the beginning of the year 2020.

Images: Porsche

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