Despite the previous consensus, on March 3 the European Union delayed the ratification of the agreement that was to ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines from the year 2035. The blockade by Germany at the last moment, added to the reluctance of Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and, more recently, Austria, have set off alarm bells for fear that regulations that have been in the making for years will not be approved.
Berlin demands that the European Commission offer a proposal, in parallel to the new law, so that cars and vans with combustion engines can continue to be registered after the deadline, as long as they use only "neutral" fuels, that is, free of CO₂ emissions. In the text agreed in February, the EU already promised to study this option and to present a proposal related to the use of these fuels in 2026, a promise that is now insufficient to obtain the support of the Germans.
There are various types of neutral fuels. On the one hand, there are biofuels, which are made from waste. And, on the other, synthetic fuels, which are made with captured CO₂ and renewable hydrogen. Although both are zero emissions, it is the latter that arouse the greatest interest due to their greater production capacity.
Xavier Giménez, professor of Environmental Chemistry at the UB, explains that synthetic fuels are those that "are obtained through a chemical transformation process that is carried out industrially". He affirms that, to materialize its production, only two raw materials are needed: water and CO₂.
The procedure begins with obtaining renewable hydrogen from electrolysis, a process that separates oxygen and hydrogen particles from water using electricity from renewable sources. At the same time, CO₂ is captured and mixed with hydrogen at elevated temperatures to make liquid fuel. This process allows its carbon footprint to be neutral, that is, despite expelling CO₂ back into the atmosphere, it does not increase or reduce what was initially there, details the professor.
In order to facilitate this idea, Giménez compares the production process of synthetic fuels with photosynthesis. “Plants use CO₂, water and light to make sugar. Instead, synthetic fuels are produced from CO₂, water and energy,” he comments.
Germany is the country that has most promoted the implementation of synthetic fuels. Its automobile industry is one of the largest in the world, especially when it comes to engine manufacturing, so it will suffer if thermal propellants disappear. And from Berlin they try to defend their economic interests.
In this line, the brand that champions the development of ecological fuels worldwide is Porsche. Other German manufacturers, such as BMW, have also supported this solution. However, firms such as Audi or Volkswagen have recently stated that they do not see synthetic fuels as a viable alternative for road transport.
Despite everything, those who defend this solution consider that these fuels are the ideal complement to electric mobility. From Porsche they defend that their synthetic fuel -which they produce in a plant located in Chile and which they have tested in some specific models- can be used directly in a combustion engine or combined with fuel of fossil origin in any proportion, which facilitates its expansion.
Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Porsche AG, recalls in a statement that "there are more than a billion vehicles circulating in the world and they will be on the roads for decades to come." And synthetic fuels “enable all these cars to play a role in CO₂ reduction as well, as combustion engines can run near carbon neutral”.
Another of the reasons that Porsche exposes is that large investments in supply infrastructure are not required, since the existing one can perform this function. A point of view shared with the oil companies, another of the sectors most affected by the transition to electric vehicles.
In statements collected by the EFE agency, sources from the Association of Oil Operators (AOP) explained that there are no reasons to prohibit the combustion engine if it is powered by climate-neutral fuels. "The objective is not to electrify the park, but to decarbonize it, and any technology that allows it must be taken into account," according to the AOP.
Carlos Bravo, Transport Spokesperson
He defends that using synthetic fuels in cars "is absurd from an energy point of view", although it is an interesting option for maritime or air transport. According to a study conducted by T.
Regarding the economic section, it warns that moving a combustion vehicle that uses synthetic fuels is "much more expensive" than an electric one, due to its complex production process. To this must be added a "huge and necessary investment in renewable power" to ensure that all the energy used is "zero emissions", he adds.
This will translate, according to the calculations of ICCT (the acronym in English of the International Council of Clean Transport), in a price of between 3 and 4 euros for each liter that drivers buy, that is, approximately double what they pay now by conventional fossil fuels. As a curiosity, last January the British company Zero Petroleum put the first synthetic gasoline on the market on sale. The price, about 2,800 euros per liter.
On the other hand, the commitment to synthetic fuels comes up against the new Euro 7 emissions regulation, already approved by the European Commission and which is expected to come into force in July 2025. The new regulation promotes the reduction of emissions pollutants from vehicles and equalizes the limits of diesel and gasoline.
As a result of the aforementioned, cars that use synthetic fuels will be able to reduce the expulsion of CO₂ until reaching neutrality. However, they will not be able to comply with the limits that Euro 7 sets for other harmful particles and gases such as NOx (nitrogen oxides), which each year cause a high number of premature deaths. “The only way to eliminate the emission of atmospheric pollutants is with electricity, because any hydrocarbon that burns ends up expelling particles”, Bravo resolves.
In fact, according to the data from T
