PIK report: Electric vehicles are a better choice than synthetic fuels. They require less energy.

Scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK) have calculated that electric vehicles are a better choice than vehicles that run on hydrogen-based synthetic hydrogen. The latter require significantly more energy to produce, so it may turn out that under the pretext of abandoning fossil fuels, we will become even more dependent on them.

If we want a clean drive, an electrician is best.

We hear voices regularly that synthetic fuels can save modern internal combustion engines from extinction. In this way, they will preserve the existing automotive industry and create a new industry for it. Electronic fuel will be produced using hydrogen.which is also considered a clean alternative to fossil fuels and electricity.

The problem is that it takes a significant amount of energy to produce synthetic fuels. The hydrogen in their molecules does not appear from anywhere. By maintaining the existing status quo, we would lead to five times (!) higher energy consumption compared to supplying this energy to electric vehicles. When operating on synthetic fuel, gas boilers require 6-14 times more energy to generate the same amount of heat in the entire chain than heat pumps! (a source)

The effects are quite frightening: although the process of making and burning synthetic fuels seems to be emission neutral – we are introducing the same amount of carbon into the environment as before – we will have to feed it with energy from existing sources to keep it running. And since our current energy mix is based on fossil fuels, we will use even more of them.

Therefore, concludes Falco Ickerdt, one of the PIK scientists, hydrogen-based synthetic fuels should only be used where it cannot be replaced by any other means. In aviation, metallurgy and chemical industry. Transport needs electrification, and by the end of the decade, the share of synthetic fuels and hydrogen will be minimal.

Opening photo: Illustrative synthetic fuel Audi (c) Audi