Ralf Diemer has a mission: to save the internal combustion engine.

E-Fuel Alliance is the name of the association whose managing director is the lobbyist from Swabia.

The initiative is hardly known to the general public, which is no wonder, since it was only founded last year.

But more than 130 companies have gathered in the E-Fuel Alliance.

Marcus Theurer

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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    The group Exxon-Mobil ("Esso") and other companies in the mineral oil industry are also involved. Association members are also the energy technology manufacturer Siemens Energy and automotive suppliers such as Elring-Klinger, Mahle, ZF Friedrichshafen and Webasto. The E-Fuel Alliance is organized by the consulting firm of the former Mayor of Hamburg Ole von Beust (CDU).

    E-fuels or synthetic fuels, these are the technical jargon called liquid energy carriers that can be used to drive conventional combustion engines, but which, unlike petrol and diesel, do not cause any CO2 emissions. These e-fuels are produced with electricity from renewable sources such as wind power and photovoltaics, the only additional ingredients required are water and carbon dioxide, of which there is too much in the atmosphere anyway. The new miracle fuel is supposed to make even the 5-liter V8 engine climate-neutral and green.

    In the approaching federal election campaign, e-fuels are becoming a political issue.

    The promise for the automobile nation Germany sounds tempting: Climate protection is also possible without an electric car.

    He doesn't want to prevent the battery-electric car at all, says Diemer, who used to work for the automotive industry association VDA.

    "But e-fuels can accelerate climate protection in traffic."

    E-fuels divide politics

    The argument sounds obvious at first. The current fleet and the petrol station network could simply continue to operate. It would not first have to replace millions of combustion vehicles with e-cars and install tens of thousands of electricity charging stations - and still, road traffic could become climate-neutral. If e-fuels were to catch on, it would be a godsend for the German auto industry, which is the global leader in combustion technology. After all, hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs depend on the previous drive and motor technology.

    And yet e-fuels divide politics and industry. In the federal government, the two Union Ministers Peter Altmaier (Economy) and Andreas Scheuer (Transport) are working hard on the new fuel. When it comes to climate protection, the problem is not the combustion engine under the bonnet, but the fossil fuel in the tank, so the argument goes. The FDP and AfD also rely on e-fuels for passenger cars. “Technology openness instead of a planned economy”, calls for Michael Theurer, vice-parliamentary group of the Liberals in the Bundestag. It is a mistake to only rely on the electric car.

    Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) takes the opposite position in the federal government, who is skeptical about e-fuels for cars because of the high power consumption during production. The Social Democrats pushed through this week that there should no longer be a separate minimum quota for adding e-fuels to conventional fuel, a major setback for those in favor of the new fuel.