Starting from the year 2000, when it first became apparent that electromobility was to play an industrial role in the mobility sector, a small group of three entrepreneurs decided to commission a scientific-empirical investigation into whether synthetic fuels globally had a real chance of substituting conventional fossil fuels in the coming decades. After intense discussions, they coined the term "e-fuels" as a generic term for all types of synthetic fuels, registered the corresponding domains, thus laying the groundwork for this new branch in the renewable energy sector. Today, the term "e-fuels" is known on all continents, continuously used in the media, and established as a common word for this future fuel sector in industry, media, and everyday language.

From 2005, the founding fathers of the modern e-fuels generation commissioned various universities and institutions in Europe and the USA to conduct commissioned research. The direction of this research was led by Professor Dr.-Ing Roland Meyer-Pittroff (Technical University, Munich). At the time, the central theme of the research was to determine which technological path was most promising for advancing decarbonization impartially and economically producing e-fuels globally. Based on the foundational work of BASF in the 1920s and the application tests of Daimler-Benz AG around 1981 (Mercedes Bus O 305 with methanol drive), it was established after two years that Green Methanol was the key and the basic material for entering into a methanol economy, as described by Nobel laureate George A. Olah in his book "Beyond Oil and Gas – The Methanol Economy".

From 2009 onwards, Professor Dr.-Ing Meyer Pittroff's team focused on the engineering and construction of a mobile methanol production plant. The starting point was the question of whether a refinery for e-fuels production could also be produced as a smaller facility: The idea of "smartphonizing e-fuels refineries" was born.

With exclusively private financing on the scale of a medium double-digit million amount, the construction of the first industrial PtL methanol plant was funded, which commenced its test operation in 2011. In 2018, this industrial prototype was sold to Fraunhofer Umsicht, which has since presented this plant to politicians, scientists, industrial companies, and an interested public internationally.

In parallel, since 2009, the fathers of e-fuels have been in personal contact with around 100 leading industrial companies in the mineral, electricity, and automotive sectors in Europe, as well as the USA and Asia, to present the results of the advanced research, development, and engineering work of Dr. Meyer-Pittroff and his colleagues. Through this foundational work across the industry, in the last four years since 2020, there has been a willingness within the European industry to consider certain propulsion systems of electromobility from a different perspective.

Currently, due to these coordinated efforts, a gradual shift in thinking is taking place in the global industry. A recent example is the Hapag-Lloyd Group, which announced a few days ago that its transport ships will soon also be fueled by e-fuels of the Green Methanol variety.

Simply put, e-fuels require externally supplied energy during their production process. Hydrogen (H²) often serves as the energy carrier, which has been produced at industrial volumes through various technology pathways for over a century. The technology is state-of-the-art and applied worldwide.

To make hydrogen transportable and storable over longer periods, one of the best methods is to directly mix carbon dioxide with hydrogen. This method is both efficient and cost-effective. Through this chemical reaction, green methanol is produced as the first type of e-fuels, which can be further refined into other types of e-fuels. However, each refining process incurs additional costs, and typically involves a variety of tax implications.

Since sources for renewable energy generation are by definition unlimited (which is sometimes overlooked in general-popular considerations), and there is also an ample supply of carbon dioxide, the two base materials for green methanol production are ideally suited to create a global e-fuels economy based on green methanol. There are no production, quantity, or distribution problems unless artificially created.

A multitude of industrial companies as well as globally operating corporations engineer and construct e-fuels facilities. Their production capacities are at a level that allows for systematically establishing e-fuels production sites at various locations around the world. It is advisable to establish e-fuels production sites particularly near international airports and seaports.

The decisive factor for establishing a sustainable global e-fuels economy lies solely in the impartial consideration of technological pathways and a serious political will for industrial e-fuels production. From the perspectives of engineering and technological readiness, the construction of e-fuels facilities is immediately feasible. 

The production costs and selling prices of the common types of e-fuels are now precisely defined and calculable, applicable across all regions of the global market. The issue with the often significantly divergent price calculations circulating, which particularly lead to controversial political discussions, lies in the fact that the individual production steps are not precisely separated or tendentiously distorted to justify a specific outcome.

A concrete example: Around one-third of the base materials for chemically simple structured e-fuels compounds is carbon dioxide, specifically in the form of biogenic carbon dioxide. This type of carbon dioxide can be obtained from various industrial processes as well as through extraction from the air. Both production methods for obtaining biogenic carbon dioxide are technically feasible, disregarding costs initially.

However, there is one fundamentally significant difference: While a ton of biogenic carbon dioxide from industrial processes costs around €45 per ton, the cost for a ton of biogenic carbon dioxide from air extraction in some process pathways is ten to twenty times higher, reaching around €800 per ton. Depending on which carbon dioxide base price one incorporates into their own e-fuels cost calculation, the projected selling price of e-fuels can be scaled up to one's own preferred ranges.

The team led by Professor Dr.-Ing. Meyer-Pittroff has analyzed and compared a variety of specific business calculations and business models in detail. The fact afterwards is that a variety of e-fuels types can already be produced and sold in economically viable dimensions today. Only an objective view of the profitability and truthfulness of the underlying cost structures determines the answer to the question of whether e-fuels are indeed economically viable or not.

The honest answer is inevitably: E-fuels are economically viable and thus meaningful, as confirmed precisely in the maritime sector by the commitment of the two industry leaders Maersk and, more recently, Hapag Lloyd to Green Methanol as fuels.

A key advantage of e-fuels is that all common types of e-fuels are already DIN-certified. Time-consuming and costly investments in specific e-fuels approval processes are minimized to a manageable extent. E-fuels are integrated into the everyday product worlds of the petroleum, automotive, and power industries. This is particularly true for the maritime sector, where the IMO (International Maritime Organization) and ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) have made pioneering decisions in favor of Green Methanol as an e-fuels type based on extensive global assessments. These decisions are also irreversible. 

The petroleum industry is characterized by the unique feature that this energy sector possesses a globally spanning distribution system reaching down to the individual consumer. Through this distribution network, the distribution of all common types of e-fuels can be easily accomplished.

Furthermore, distribution of e-fuels via cubes as an innovative form of distribution is also possible: Today, e-fuels can already be obtained directly for personal use through well-known online trading companies. These online companies, serving as trading platforms, will be able to secure continuously growing market shares through automation using AI.

Should every citizen continue to have the opportunity to actively engage in individual mobility? 

Mobility is also a part of the human right to individual freedom. If future mobility solely focuses on electromobility, the mobility of all citizens could come to a halt at the push of a button by simultaneously deactivating all charging stations. The solution lies in e-fuels, because electricity can also be in liquid form. 

E-fuels are another form of electricity, but for convenient portability.