Exposing eFuels
IrishEVs was created to help consumers make better informed decisions by cutting through common myths and disinformation about electric cars, so that the people of Ireland – and beyond – could clearly understand how switching to an electric vehicle could cut their carbon footprint, and make in-roads into a more sustainable lifestyle.
Yet, since we launched earlier this year, we have seen a torrent of new disinformation reports, greenwashing campaigns and technical jargon that is designed to confuse consumers and maintain the status quo for those who have a vested interest in burning fossil fuels.
Today we look at the rise of “eFuels” – a term that is rapidly becoming more common and deliberately hides just how harmful these fuels are.
What are eFuels?
In short, eFuels are yet another form of fossil fuels.
They are typically a synthetic form of biodiesel – made from animal fats and oily plants – and are still burned in an internal combustion engine.
The process of their creation effectively adds electrons from electricity to the fuel to produce more complex hydrocarbons to increase the amount of energy you get from each drop of fuel.
The idea is similar to the complex carbohydrates that we are encouraged to eat for breakfast, where energy is released more slowly and efficiently.
Why are eFuels harmful?
There are a number of very important reasons why eFuels are just yet another marketing ploy, and why they are likely to do significantly more harm than good.
Firstly, you’ll hear a lot about how eFuels are made using renewable energy, and how “green” this is. Yet, in reality the process of manufacturing eFuels is both incredibly energy-intensive and costly.
The process typically relies on using renewable energy to produce hydrogen, which requires a huge amount of power – see our What About Hydrogen article. The hydrogen is then combined with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide to create the fuel.
The “e” part of eFuels comes from the fact that they are created using renewable energy, and has absolutely nothing to do with environmentally-friendly qualifications.
This is an attempt to piggy-back on the rising demand for sustainable electric vehicles, and uses marketing to attempt to create a “green” affiliation in people’s minds.
Where these eFuels are produced without renewable electricity they are known as electrofuels. A 2017 study shows that electrofuels have a greenhouse gas intensity approximately three times higher than traditional petrol or diesel – the very same fuels that have driven the Climate Crisis.
As such, without considerable regulation, there is the potential for oil companies to switch to producing electrofuels and causing higher levels of human health and environmental damage than they do today. At present, these eFuels have very few regulations.
eFuels are not only incredibly expensive to produce but also use an inordinate amount of energy and are highly inefficient to manufacturer - especially compared to electricity for EVs
“There is legitimate concern among some stakeholders that the emission savings delivered from using electrofuels instead of conventional fossil fuels should not be counted twice”
Double-Counting Emissions Reductions
One potential issue that could arise without proper regulation of eFuels is the opportunity for oil businesses to overstate the emissions reductions of these fuels in a highly misleading way.
This is put best by the 2017 Cerulogy report:
“There is legitimate concern among some stakeholders that the emission savings delivered from using electrofuels instead of conventional fossil fuels should not be counted twice.”
At their cheapest, eFuels cost €500 per tonne - meanwhile renewable electricity costs just cents per kWh and has never been cheaper
“By capturing and recycling CO2 from industrial facilities, it is possible to produce a transport fuel that can be combusted without adding to the net atmospheric CO2 loading. This does not prevent the emissions of the CO2 from the original combustion.”
In other words: these fuels are still doing a huge amount of harm to human and planetary health, but it’s easier to say that they aren’t.
This can be seen in how these fuels are marketed; as “carbon neutral eFuel”. This is not reflective of the truth.
This is, in effect, yet another form of greenwashing – where brands lie about the full extent of emissions to trick consumers into making a more expensive choice that they are told is the “greenest option”. We already see this in action in Ireland today.
Fuel or Food?
Then there is the same old issue that we find with all biofuels – they need vast amounts of land to grow the crops that are then used to make the fuel. This is incredibly land-intensive, and often uses land that would otherwise have been used to grow food, meaning we’re literally taking food out of our mouths to fuel our needless car addiction.
Of course, these crops are also predominantly grown as a monoculture – where a single crop is grown without variety – meaning that they are considerably worse for local ecology, increase soil erosion, are more susceptible to harmful crop disease outbreaks, and play a direct role in the decline of pollinators.
“Petrol and diesel cars convert just 17-21% of the fuel that you put into your tank into power that moves the wheels. The rest is lost through waste heat, noise and vibration. EVs convert more than 60% of their power into movement”
Monocultures allow diseases to spread faster, while also harming local wildlife - especially pollinators that are essential for food production and balanced food webs
Why are EVs better?
The process of producing eFuels requires a huge investment in renewable energy just so that it can be used to process hydrogen, which can then be used to produce the fuel.
This is massively inefficient, as we can already simply use the energy produced by renewable sources (e.g. wind and solar) to directly power our homes and cars.
By adding extra links in the chain, you are simply using and losing more energy with every step of the process.
Breakdown of Ireland’s emissions. Credit: CIE
Electric cars offer society the opportunity to break free of fossil fuels once and for all, as they can run solely on renewable energy. Furthermore, EVs even offer the opportunity for individuals to become energy independent (the act of not needing to pay for, or be reliant on others for your energy) by solely running their house and their car on renewable power produced from roof-top solar or community wind sources.
Then we must also consider that petrol and diesel cars convert just 17-21% of the fuel that you put into your tank into power that moves the wheels. The rest is lost through waste heat, noise and vibration.
The average electric car converts upwards of 60% of its energy into power.
If we are to meet the challenges of the Climate Crisis, which is a very real and very immediate threat to all life on Earth, then we must become better as a society at being as efficient at using what we have, and making our energy go further.
Despite decades of suppression and active disinformation from oil companies and automotive manufacturers alike, we have known since the 1960s that we need to move away from burning fuels and towards truly clean energy. There is simply no space for eFuels in road transport or in climate science.
What To Read Next
The Rise of Greenwashing
We investigate the rising culture of greenwashing amongst Irish brands who are using PR to appear "green" in order to increase their profits - while placing the onus for climate action on their customers
What About Hydrogen?
We investigate whether hydrogen is a viable, sustainable fuel for the future - or a costly distraction that we can ill afford amidst the climate crisis
7 Years to Act: The Climate Crisis Timeline
We have less than 8 years to avert the climate crisis, today we highlight what will happen if we don't - and show how you can lower your carbon footprint