John McM

Almost as much fun as an oil thread. I’m surprised by the ICE vitriol towards EVs. I have three Porsches and have added a Tesla Model 3 to the stable (base model). Horses for courses. It doesn’t have to be a binary decision.

CaymanCarver

K' that makes me sad. IMO anything GM touches ..is gonna be bad ..run away ..run away!!!
Just my personal opinion (especially after researching the C7 Corvette for 9 months before focusing on the Cayman).

K' that's cool too. But won't be specific to Porsche or any other ICE car. Doesn't sound like we'll see a new chain of "Porsche" filling stations.

N' can only be made in southern Chile' due to its windy climate..? All that infrastructure down in southern Chile' and then all the infrastructure to transport this eFuel..?
N' what of the emissions from this eFuel? Says it's Methanol To Gasoline (MTG). Why not just burn the Methanol? What else will be in it that makes it "Gasoline"? (besides Temperature & Pressure?)

On its face, sounds a little fishy already. Maybe that's it! There's a special fish that is only found off the coast of southern Chile' that is required for MTG processing .

As another step towards the altar of climate change, Porsche Synth Fuel speaks to the points briefly made by xsbank and thedude .. Which is the swirling miasma we knew this thread would have to discuss.

I was thinking Power Cell with some kind of electronic handshake or watermark that would be brand specific. e.g. you couldn't take a Porsche Power Cell and put it in a Ford Fiesta.

zedcat

For info MTG is methanol (rather than methane) to gasoline a process developed in the 1970s. The methanol comes from a catalysed reaction of CO2 and H2. The CO2 and H2 are sourced from air and water using the wind powered electricity. Will be expensive to produce and there is definitely a bit of publicity stunt aspect. But the R&D may be useful down the road.

CaymanCarver

Post above corrected. Thanks for the clarification.

Schwinn

Methanol also has less than half the energy content of octane (gasoline)... and even to use that energy you need to boost the hell out of the ICE to make it useful in a vehicle. That's why those "alcohol funny cars" have those giant blowers on them. This makes it pretty impractical for use in a typical ICE. Not impossible, just harder... and therefore more expensive and still less efficient.

Heck, when we got forced into using gasohol here in the USA, we already lost MPGs just from that little (10%) change, and that's ethanol (which has slightly higher energy content vs methanol)... I can't imagine how terribly inefficient full methanol would be for a typical car.

Ref: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics...ng/octane-fuel

cobalt

If fuel cost are a consideration on what you drive than drive an EV. I don't consider gas mileage or cost for my weekend rides just fun factor. Formula E racing is a joke IMO. Boring and sounds like bees. I was given a Tesla 100d with ludicrous speed for a day of unlimited driving. I was immediately impressed by its acceleration. So effortless and a simple punch and go got me to 120 without thinking. After a number of pulls and driving around like an *** it became apparent to me how numb the car was. It had no feel or excitement other than acceleration. I was then given the keys to a model 3. Not as fast but fast enough and was IMO a better driving car. Had some road feel but not much more than any boring car built today. I only had a short drive in a Tycan turbo (Always makes me laugh) IMO a far better ride but still laking what the older cars offer and stupidly expensive. The pumped in sound track I hate to admit I preferred over the sound of tires I hear in the tesla. They even go as far as to put foam inside the tires to quiet them down as much as possible but it is still annoyingly noticeable to me and I hate the ergonomics.

I wanted to like the 718 when it came out over the 981. It was faster and more capable but I chose the 981 for the sound and feel. It isn't always about numbers that is easy to obtain these days. IMO there is no place for EV in the sports car world. Tesla started that way and quickly found it is about moving people from place to place and not about driving excitement. If you want to wake your 981 up throw a cobb tune or better yet I have someone who custom tunes them and an S or GTS can easily pump out 350hp without anything else and can go further with additional upgrades. More than fast enough to have fun with.

Well said!!