Two major car makers have joined a growing trend to look for future alternatives to electric vehicles. 

Stellantis, the group behind names such as Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat and Opel is in talks to buy a major stake in the Symbio joint venture. This is currently under the guidance of Faurecia and Michelin and aims to develop a fuel cell system for hydrogen mobility. 

Stellantis, has already launched hydrogen-powered mid-size vans and is now looking to explore possibilities for larger vans and heavy duty commercial vehicles. 

Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said, “This move will foster the speed of development to bring low emission products to our customers, beyond traditional electric vehicles.” 

Meanwhile, Porsche and other investment partners, have started production of a new synthetic fuel that is near CO2 neutral for use in combustion engine vehicles.

The facility is in Chile and is operated by Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF). Opening the plant Porsche Executive Board members Barbara Frenkel and Michael Steiner fuelled a Porsche 911 with the first eFuels made at the plant from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy. 

Barbara Frenkel commented, “Porsche is committed to a double-e path, e-mobility and eFuels as a complementary technology. Using eFuels reduces CO2 emissions. There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide. Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come and eFuels offer the owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative. As the manufacturer of high-performance, efficient engines, Porsche has a wide range of know-how in the field of fuels.”

The fuel will initially be used in test projects such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and at Porsche Experience Centres. Production will be scaled up to some 55 million litres per year by 2025.