Cartorque: vol 3 - ‘sean’s introduction’

Welcome back, and welcome to my first formal addition to our little website. Today I want to talk about the future of the combustion engine. A subject which I know has been done to absolute death by every car related media source in the UK. It's not hard to see why, the impending government all out ban on newly produced petrol and diesel engines has got your local Jeremy Clarkson enthusiast running scared at the idea that soon enough everyone will be driving electric cars. However, I'm not so sure that the electric car revolution will be coming so soon, if ever. 

Electric cars are not the perfect solution to the problem they aim to solve. The damage the car does to the environment. A problem which, given enough time, will arise again. A fully electric infrastructure will require more power. According to the national grid, as of 2020, 43% of power in the UK is generated from renewables. Thus leaving 57% of the power generated for the electric car, contributing to the harm of the environment. Not so carbon neutral as they want you to believe. On top of this, the batteries are horrendous to the environment once they reach their end of life. 

Now before you write us off as another blabbering car blog kicking and moaning about electric cars, we don't hate electric cars here at CarTorque like the rest of them. If you are an environmentally conscious person, it is your best option as of the time of writing. Not to mention they're are some seriously cool electric cars out there. It's just we believe the more realistic solution to the environmental crisis lies elsewhere; eFuel. eFuel is the name coined for a synthetic fuel that will work in your current combustion engine but produce near to none of the environmental harming emissions, and Porsche has been making progress.

Porsche, along with several partners, has been at the forefront of eFuel research starting development in 2020, beginning with a plant in Chile relying solely of renewable sources of energy to aid production (see https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/innovation/porsche-efuels.html). Currently at the point of racing with eFuel entirely in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Hence, providing huge promise on the front of de-carbonisation and huge promise on the future of combustion powered cars.

Disregarding the fact that this is massive for car enthusiasts like us, meaning long loved classics can live on. This is important for the homefront too, not everyone is able to afford the premium an electric car currently demands. Especially when they have a perfectly fine working combustion engine car already at home. Sure, the second hand market will open up in a few years but with how batteries degrade over time, we are yet to see on a large scale how electric cars perform at the point in their life cycle when they get cheap for most people (75000 miles onwards).

Despite all of this; however, according to autoexpress (https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/sustainability/359841/eu-plans-efuel-cars-dodge-2035-combustion-engine-ban) the government is reluctant to provide exemptions to eFuel powered vehicles despite the de-carbonisation. Furthermore, motor finance (see https://www.motorfinanceonline.com/comment/uk-rules-out-e-fuels-for-cars-and-vans/) said that the UK government is completely ruling out the use of eFuel as a route for de-carbonisation for both cars and vans. Now both of these articles are from 2023, but we have heard nothing despite the advancements. A massive blow to the hope of the future of the combustion engine. Leaving it up to enthusiasts like us to raise awareness of eFuel as an alternative, not only to fellow enthusiasts but to the everyday person too.

Sean Isaac

Writer