The market for synthetic fuels in Italy

Some of the most controversial and debated topics nowadays are about the transition to a zero-emission world, especially about dealing with the means and the ways to achieve this transition.

In the world of transportation, electricity is now almost universally recognized as the main road to achieving the goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. This technology, however very useful, like all radical innovations, has its limits, related to the materials used, the production of the vehicles, the infrastructure required for their use, their real environmental impact, etc.

These limits will likely be overcome by technological innovations, given the massive investments that are now driving its development, but in the meantime, the climate situation continues to worsen and the world needs more immediate solutions.

Synthetic fuels are being presented precisely this way, as an outcome that can be deployed right away in existing and circulating vehicles, without the need to change either the existing infrastructure or the vehicles. Consequently, the efficient value chain that companies have created over the decades that internal combustion engines have been in use. In addition, synthetic fuels are also a solution for the kinds of transportation for which electrification is unthinkable (ex. air transport).

Despite this, even for this technology, there is no shortage of sticking points. In this case, they are related to the cost of production, lower energy efficiency, and the need for more renewable energy sources to make their use actually sustainable.

These points are fueling an increasingly heated debate, particularly since the European Commission announced that starting in 2035, not only electric and hydrogen cars will be sold, but also those that run only on e-fuel, with BEV proponents seeing e-fuel as a technology developed specifically by the oil lobby to slow down the electrification transition.

This report will provide an unbiased overview of the market and characteristics of e-fuel, based only on verified data, to uncover the real potential, and limitations, of this debated technology.