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As soon as a ban on the use of combustion engines from 2035 was announced, there were rumors that this it will destroy the possibilities of synthetic fuels. Again, this is a silly discussion. Here are the three most important arguments that will help you quickly demonstrate the inconsistency of this speech, should it ever emerge in your circle of acquaintances.
First of all, the internal combustion engine, the explosion to be understood, is a rather absurd concept. To propel the vehicle, these engines create a hundred burns per second. Taking its cue from the completely obsolete principle of the steam engine, the linear movement of the pistons is then transferred to a shaft, which converts the movement into a spinning wheel. And we haven’t even started talking about the infinitely complex construction of these engines, with all the ancillary equipment they require. An electric motorinstead, it just runs and works forever.
According to synthetic fuel production is inefficient. If we consider the “well-to-wheel”, ie the efficiency calculated from the source to the wheel, the performance is even worse than that of conventional fuels: they have a poor efficiency of just 15%. The rest is lost in the form of heat, in the transportation, refining and production of crude oil. The production of synthetic fuels requires a huge amount of energy. It is estimated that more than 20 kWh of electricity are required for every liter of synthetic fuel. Assuming a consumption of 5 liters per 100 kilometers, electricity consumption will be equal to 100 KWh. But if you load 100 kWh directly into an electric car, the range will be 500 kilometers.
Third, there has never been anything so stupid in history. People didn’t have the Internet before, but they obviously had more brains. Since the invention of the electric light bulb, has anyone ever tried to develop a new type of paraffin to replace the smelly lanterns that caught fire? Or has anyone ever tried to develop a synthetic form of coal to compete with diesel and electric locomotives? Or has anyone ever tried to revive Zeppelins with an alternative gas? Actually, in the latter case, yes. But it wasn’t profitable.
As a matter of fact: the new technology always replaces the old and obsolete one. So let’s forget about synthetic fuels (whose temporary use could be justified in aviation or in ships). Or as Elon Musk said ten years ago: “In a few years we will look at internal combustion engines as we look at steam engines today. We will say: ‘It was a good time, but it is definitely over and it will never come back'”.
This column is edited by Christoph Erni, founder and CEO of Juice Technology AG, a Swiss manufacturer of charging stations and solutions. He has always had a practical inclination, so much so that he left school shortly before his baccalaureate to take a business administration course at university, and then moved on to the IT sector soon after. But this was not enough for Christoph Erni: he wanted more! About 20 years ago he founded his own business consulting firm, Erni Associates AG.
In 2014, noticing the lack of suitable charging solutions, he decided to enter the manufacturing sector and founded Juice Technology AG. In its first year of operation, the company secured pole position in this segment with the 22 kW Juice Booster 1 portable charging station, and has remained there ever since.
Christoph Ernifounder and CEO of Juice Technology
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