Mazda open to adding e-fuels to Europe powertrain mix

MILAN – Mazda, which has been one of the slowest automakers to invest in the electrification of its product range, sees e-fuels as viable alternative in the race to reduce CO2 emissions in Europe.

Christian Schultze, Mazda Europe's deputy general manager of R&D, says vehicles running on carbon neutral fuels would be "an important addition to electrification as they are easy to implement, and they can give an immense effect to the decarbonization simply by the high number of cars used."

The European Commission's decision in late March to allow an exemption for cars running on e-fuels to qualify for sale after 2035 -- when all new vehicles must be zero-emission -- has given the internal combustion engine a new life in Europe.

Porsche, Ferrari and Renault Group's sporty subsidiary, Alpine, have signaled interest in using e-fuels, which Germany, Italy and other European countries have fought to have included so cars using them could be sold after 2035.

Brands such as Volvo Cars oppose the inclusion of e-fuels, with CEO Jim Rowan saying their exemption puts "domestic political interests ahead of the health and welfare of our planet and EU citizens."

Unknown impact

"We can expect that by 2035 a certain portion of the cars on the roads can be powered by e-fuels," Schultze told Automotive News Europe on the sideline of an event here. "I can't say it will be enough for 10 percent of cars or 15 percent to 20 percent," he added.

Schultze said it will take years for e-fuels to become widely available in Europe.

"Once the EU gives the green light, we can assume it will take four or five years to build up large scale production. That means realistically, before 2028 there will be no large scale plants," Schultze said.

However, he sees demand growing quickly because the U.S. has shown interest in e-fuels, which are also expected to be used by planes, ships and heavy duty trucks. Passenger cars would be a fourth pillar for e-fuels, he said.

Despite Mazda's interest in e-fuels. the automaker remains committed to its plan to invest $11 billion to electrify its range by 2030.

It's current EV lineup only includes the MX-30 compact crossover. Mazda Europe CEO Martijn ten Brink said in January that the automaker will stop sales of combustion-only vehicles in Europe in 2035, and he expects full-electric cars to account for between 40 percent and 70 percent of Mazda's sales in 2030.

Schultz, though, believes Mazda should not rule out selling cars in Europe with a combustion engine after 2035.

"Please understand, I cannot foresee the decision of my company in 15 years' time. But why shouldn't we offer them if there are customers, markets and e-fuels available?" he said.

Niche market

Even if they become widely available, Mazda expects e-fuels to play a minor role in the market, largely because they are costly to produce. But Schultze said that is likely to change as production ramps up and if CO2-neutral fuels are exempted from taxation or taxed at a lower rate.

"So, if we can produce e-fuels in large scale in, for example, South America by 2030, we might end up at price levels between 1.00 euro to 1.20 euro per liter," he said.

That is still more than the current industrial cost of gasoline, but he said if might be the price for being sustainable.

He also said that efficiency deficiencies in e-fuels at this early stage of the discussion shouldn't disqualify them from consideration.

"Airplanes are flying with turbines, which are not the most efficient combustion engines. But why do we use it? Because it's the only engine that can bring us to 10,000 meters and travel at 900 kilometers per hour," he said. "Our priorities should be to take all useful, sensible, feasible measures."

While Mazda is ready to embrace the hydrogen-based e-fuels, it is neither working on fuel cells nor on the possible direct use of hydrogen as a fuel in cars.

"We are currently focusing on electrification and also improving our existing engines, but hydrogen technologies are currently not a priority for Mazda," Schultze said.

Mazda has tried both technologies in the past.

In the 1990s it produced a version of the MX-5 coupe with a rotary engine that was powered by hydrogen. It also presented various fuel cell-powered prototypes, including the Demio FCEV (1997) and Premacy FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle).

In the late 2000s Mazda took part with an RX-8 coupe in the HyNor Norwegian hydrogen project to test the technology over a 580 km stretch of highway by establishing a chain of hydrogen stations between Stavanger and Oslo.

At the Milan symposium Schultze said he sees “big technological or economic issues” with hydrogen. “There are still problems for tanking, refueling, distribution and safety,” he said.