ARE E-FUELS FOR REAL?

YOU'RE RIGHT TO BE SKEPTICAL.

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THE COMBUSTION ENGINE doesn't have to die. At least, that's what an industry contends as it scrambles to come up with the answer for a growing problem: how to reduce carbon emissions. E-fuels, or synthetic fuels, promise to be a drop-in solution that not only keeps current cars on the road but also ensures they produce virtually zero net emissions. You have every right to be skeptical.

The idea is to make liquid fuel using renewable or zero-emission energy sources. E-fuels are carbon-based, much like gasoline, but they're not extracted from underground oil reservoirs. Instead, with sunshine, wind, carbon-capture technology, and a chemistry degree, one can create a substance suitable for storage in fuel tanks and burnable in internal-combustion engines.