Following tests carried out with Aramco, Stellantis estimates that 28 million vehicles could run on hydrogen-based e-fuels. This type of fuel is compatible with 24 engine families.

Aramco was in charge of the tests. The oil group, highly involved in this type of product, carried out tests at Stellantis‘ technical centres across Europe. And the conclusion is that 24 of the engine families powering Stellantis’ vehicles sold in Europe since 2014, i.e. 28 million vehicles, can use hydrogen-based e-fuels. The benefit of these synthetic fuels is that they can be used without modifying the powertrain in any way.

Using hydrogen-based e-fuels for immediate and huge CO2 savings

And the gains are gargantuan: a potential reduction of 400 million tonnes of CO2 between 2025 and 2050. This is the equivalent of 1/7 of Europe’s carbon emissions a year.

The tests covered exhaust emissions, starting ability, engine power, reliability, oil dilution, durability of the fuel tank, radiator hoses and filters, as well as fuel performance at extremely cold or hot temperatures.

As a reminder, low-carbon e-fuel is a synthetic fuel produced by the reaction between CO2, taken directly from the atmosphere (or from an industrial site), and renewable hydrogen. The use of low-carbon synthetic fuel could potentially reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing internal combustion vehicles by at least 70% over their entire lifecycle, compared with traditional fuels.

At the IAA Mobility in Munich, Porsche addressed the subject. The Volkswagen Group’s sports brand has a project in Chile with HIF Global to produce this kind of fuel.

Do you want to learn more about Stellantis and hydrogen-based e-fuels? Then our latest 2 articles on these subjects should be of interest to you. You can read about Stellantis here and about hydrogen-based e-fuels there. 

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King