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e-fuels may be the solution, but their current price is prohibitive

Produced from carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere and green hydrogen, synthetic fuels (e-fuels) are emerging as a promising alternative to help decarbonize road transport.

The current price is prohibitive and continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to their dissemination, but this could change: “according to several studies, in the medium to long term the price of synthetic fuel will remain at the same level as current fuels. In the best case scenario, it will be almost half the price.”

This is what Pedro Marques, a researcher at INEGI (Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering) says.

For this scenario to happen, synthetic fuels need to overcome two major obstacles: cost and production capacity.

Producing them on a large scale remains a challenge, because they require a lot of electrical energy — both for capturing carbon dioxide and for producing green hydrogen — and to be truly sustainable, it will have to be renewable (solar and wind). 

Pedro Marques says that “about half of the cost of producing a 100% synthetic fuel is associated with the price of electrical energy”. But as the scale increases — also in terms of energy production —, costs should fall. If for road transport, the European Union's decisions seem to only allow space for 100% battery-electric vehicles, in air and sea transport, full electrification is simply not viable. The EU's solution for decarbonizing these sectors will have to involve synthetic fuels. And here lies the great potential for mass production. However, it will not happen overnight. 

The introduction will be gradual, mixing synthetic with fossil fuels, in increasingly higher percentages, also in line with production increases. “The strategies for implementing synthetic fuels always involve incorporating ever-increasing percentages of synthetic fuels into fossil fuels.”...says Pedro Marques, a researcher at INEGI

And unlike electric vehicles, the distribution infrastructure is not an obstacle. It does not require a new one to be built, and can use the existing infrastructure for fossil fuels, albeit with some technical adaptations.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding synthetic fuels, Pedro Marques emphasizes that, in terms of energy efficiency, the 100% electric car remains superior, as there is no need to spend energy to make fuel: “charging a battery with green electricity is more efficient than using that same energy to produce synthetic fuels”.

It is this inefficiency that seems to be behind the European Union’s hesitation in supporting this technology for the road transport sector. Pedro Marques says that European regulators are still trying to understand the impact of e-fuels in the future.

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