The debate on the future of the European car after 2035 is open. The proposal presented to the European Commission for an alternative to the exclusive sale of electric cars is recent news. The plan is to continue the registration of vehicles powered by heat engines, provided that they are powered by sustainable fuels. It is a change of approach, with a more comprehensive view of the actual environmental impact of the car. In fact, alternative fuels will inevitably continue to emit carbon dioxide as a product of combustion. However, the logic is that the production of the same fuels generates positive effects, equivalent to reabsorbing the same quantity of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, so that the balance is neutral. The environmental impact therefore no longer refers to the car alone, but to the entire production and use cycle from the primary source to the vehicle, in the overall analysis known as well-to-wheel (from the well, i.e. from the source, to the wheel).
Biofuels: how to achieve complete sustainability
Fuels of organic origin frequently reappear in the debate for thermal cars after 2035. One of the most famous is bioethanol, widespread above all in America, obtainable as a by-product of the corn and sugar industry. Wanting to ensure all-round sustainability, the European Union should focus on second generation biofuels which, unlike the first, do not impact on the food production chain. Regulatory regulation becomes crucial, to prevent sustainability on the greenhouse gas front from generating side effects on social, energy, water and ecosystem levels. In fact, if not regulated, the production of biofuels risks going to subtract land from agricultural production. Conversely, the use of new land for purely energy crops would increase the consumption of water, in a historical period threatened by drought, as well as the exploitation of the land. In fact, another critical aspect is the danger of the wild exploitation of intact land with a high biodiversity, such as pastures and forests. Conversely, the full circular sustainability of biofuels would be more easily achieved by focusing on municipal waste, agricultural waste and by-products from the paper and wood industry. Equally valid alternatives are lignocellulose, algae and substances that have already achieved their food purpose, such as waste vegetable oils and products no longer suitable for human consumption.
E-fuels: attention to energy consumption
The petrol used for combustion engines is based on hydrocarbons, whose molecules, as the name suggests, are made up of carbon and hydrogen. E-fuels are fuels synthesized in the laboratory, of which therefore hydrogen and carbon must be found individually and then be “assembled”. The carbon can come again from organics and municipal waste, or through the technique of carbon capture. It is a technology capable of recapturing carbon from the carbon dioxide emitted into the air by industrial waste. A process whose applicability to sea water is now also being tested and which in fact absorbs carbon dioxide from the environment which will then be re-emitted by the combustion of the fuel, obtaining a neutral balance. However, for carbon as well as for hydrogen, the risk is to obtain these elements through processes and raw materials with an impact on the environment, such as coal and methane for example. However, the distillation of hydrogen from methane can also be carried out in a sustainable way, provided that the carbon released by the process is recaptured, a production that takes the name of blue hydrogen. However, hydrogen can also be obtained through electrolysis of water, a chemical reaction that requires large quantities of energy which, in order not to abuse the term sustainability, should come from renewable sources. The report of theInternational Energy Agency however it reveals how of global hydrogen production in 2021, only 1% was of renewable origin. If it were decided to focus on e-fuels, large infrastructure investments would therefore be needed.
Compatibility with current cars
Biofuels and e-fuels are sometimes treated as separate. In reality, the final product can also be a mixture of the two components, a useful opportunity also to combine their different chemical properties to maximize their energy content. It would therefore be more correct to speak of alternative fuels, referring to both types, which can become a parallel and not mutually exclusive offer with electric and hydrogen cars. In order for alternative fuels to be sustainable, however, adequate legislation will be needed from the European Union. Above all, certification is needed that the production processes ensure effective carbon neutrality and low water, food and ecosystem impact. Added to this is another challenge. The debate on 2035 revolves around new registrations and, at the moment, it will not penalize the car fleet already in circulation. However, alternative fuels will probably be of the drop-in type, i.e. they can be used in traditional heat engines without requiring any type of specific adaptation. In fact, the same heat engine will be interchangeable between e-fuels, biofuels and fossil fuels. Hence the problem arises of how to prevent motorists of cars registered from 2035 onwards continue to refuel with old-fashioned petrol. The legislation would then have to completely change its subject, moving from car manufacturers to fuel suppliers. Refueling stations should be required to sell only e-fuels and biofuels, equally usable by new and old generation cars, banning fossil fuels. Reuters instead reports the idea of a refueling induction technology, which would prevent the car from being started using non-zero-emission petrol. A hypothesis whose feasibility, however, remains to be verified.
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