German automaker Porsche is investing about $24 million within the growth of “e-fuels,” which officers say is a climate-neutral gas to interchange gasoline in non-electric autos.

Manufacturing of such a gas would enable the corporate and doubtlessly different automakers a technique to proceed producing autos resembling Porsche’s iconic 911 sports car with a standard engine alongside, or moderately than, a brand new electrical mannequin. Whereas electrical autos can supply excellent efficiency, the driving dynamics of the autos are completely different than conventional engines.

“We wish and love automobiles just like the 911 with high-rev combustion engines or turbocharged engines nonetheless as automobiles you can drive sooner or later with out having the burden of a CO2 footprint, an pointless CO2 footprint,” Michael Steiner, Porsche’s director of analysis and growth, mentioned Wednesday throughout a digital media occasion.

Officers mentioned e-fuels can act like gasoline, permitting house owners of present and traditional autos a extra environmental-friendly technique to drive. It additionally might use the identical fueling infrastructure as present fuels moderately than billions in investments for brand new infrastructure for electrical autos.

The announcement doesn’t change Porsche’s goal to have half of Porsche models sold by 2025 to be electrified, together with all-electric and plug-in hybrid autos.

Porsche, owned by Volkswagen, introduced the funding in partnership with Siemens‘ renewable vitality unit and different worldwide firms resembling vitality agency AME and the petroleum firm ENAP from Chile. It consists of growing and implementing a plant in Chile that’s anticipated to yield the “world’s first built-in, business, industrial-scale plant” for making artificial climate-neutral fuels, also referred to as e-fuels.

The pilot mission is predicted to start e-fuel manufacturing on the plant as early as 2022. Porsche is predicted to be the first buyer for the inexperienced gas, beginning with use in autos for motorsports and its proprietor expertise facilities.

The plant and course of will likely be powered by renewable wind vitality, a motive why Chile was chosen for the plant together with “wonderful local weather situations.”

E-fuels are produced by a fancy course of utilizing water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The CO2 is filtered from the air and mixed with hydrogen from the water to provide artificial methanol, in line with officers. The result’s “renewable methanol,” which the businesses say might be transformed into gasoline utilizing an MTG (Methanol to Gasoline) know-how to be licensed and supported by Exxon Mobil.

The one emissions from the autos could be carbon produced that was initially pulled from the air to make the artificial gas. The autos would nonetheless want to make use of oil to lubricate the engine.