European leaders need to look beyond electric vehicles to avoid being at odds with car manufacturers in achieving climate goals, according to Porsche’s head of procurement, Barbara Frankel.
Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit in London this week, Frankel said that while Porsche supports the EU “intensely pursuing” the Paris Agreement’s goals, doing that only through electric cars is risking a divide with the car industry.
“For them, the only solution is going into electromobility, and when you also try and promote other technical solutions which can be sustainable, but also are to consumer’s liking, does the industry follow the overall goal of the EU?” she said.
Porsche has been a leading pioneer of sustainable eFuels that could power combustion engines without the tailpipe emissions, but they are yet to gain traction or widespread political support.
“This is something where we have to build bridges,” said Frankel. “We are not losing sight of our ultimate goal, but in between we need to stay competitive and we need to work on our existing technical portfolio because this is what consumers are buying.”
Porsche is involved in a pilot synthetic fuel plant in Chile, in collaboration with others including German tech firm Siemens. It’s part of a move to show that the fuel, which can cut tailpipe emissions by up to 90 per cent but use the existing refuelling network, could allow internal combustion engines to live on. For now, it’s on a small scale, fuelling Porsche Cup racing cars, but plans are being developed for more plants.
