Payne: Porsche and IMSA racing work on game-changing, zero-carbon synthetic fuel

Braselton, Georgia — Porsche Penske didn’t emerge the champion of the 2023 IMSA Weathertech sportscar series after a hard-fought finale at Road Atlanta, but the German brand is developing what it hopes is a winning fuel formula that may satisfy government regulations for decades to come.

Porsche is working on a synthetic, zero-carbon dioxide emitting fuel with the intent of using it in motorsport, the most demanding internal combustion engine environment in the world.

Governments from Washington to China over the next decade are forcing auto companies to abandon internal combustion engines for only battery-powered vehicles, but the mandate is running into multiple complications. Materials are heavily concentrated in China, customers have been resistant to electric vehicles given their high cost and range limitations, and those range limitations make them unworkable in endurance racing.

So while the current generation of IMSA prototype racers have adopted hybrid powertrains with battery assist, Porsche and Exxon are working on a synthetic fuel solution that would satisfy zero-carbon regulations but also maintain motorsports competition. The big bonus? It could be used in the vehicles of hundreds of millions of owners around the world that would otherwise see their residual values crater as governments ban gas engines.

“In the regulatory move from ICEs to EVs, manufactures saw hybrids as a middle step,” said IMSA President John Doonan in an interview. “But the next step is fuel. Our fuel partner, VP, is currently providing us with 80% renewable fuel made from plant waste. But in the future, a 100% renewable fuel could be in our playbook.”

That playbook is largely being written by Porsche, which has teamed with Exxon to develop a synthetic fuel — producing minimal carbon dioxide emissions — in Chile.

E-fuel, or synthetic fuels, recapture atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions during the production process, offsetting the emissions released when the fuel is burned by a vehicle to allow for close to net-zero emissions. That is, no new carbon-based fuel is dug up from the ground. The Chilean plant makes e-fuel by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and releasing the latter into the atmosphere. The hydrogen is then combined with CO₂ (that would otherwise be in the atmosphere) to create methanol. A final process then converts methanol into gasoline.

“Every indication, from price to profitability to functionality, suggests EVs have a long way to go before they can realistically replace traditional cars,” said veteran iSeeCars auto analyst and performance car enthusiast Karl Brauer. “If what's driving the push toward EVs is exhaust emissions, and that problem can be solved through synthetic fuels, it seems like a far simpler, easier and less-expensive route.”

Automakers — and by extension the motorsports that they underwrite — are under the most extreme U.S. government regulation since mpg laws were introduced in the early 1970s. At that time, government warned that world was running out of oil as OPEC nations restricted exports to western nations.

Government threatened to shut down NASCAR unless the stock car series used less fuel, and endurance races like the 24 Hours of Daytona were canceled in 1973.

Today, politicians fear auto emissions are threatening human existence. "Climate change is an existential threat. It actually threatens and is capable of wiping out all human life on earth,” said Biden administration official John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, this October. The EPA warns “the health effects of climate change include respiratory and heart diseases, water-and food-related illnesses, and injuries and deaths” and has targeted the auto industry for billions of fines unless it switches to EVs.

Against this backdrop, Doonan says motorsports has anticipated regulations by working with Washington, D.C., regulatory agencies rather than getting blind-sided as in the 1970s.

“IMSA has a partnership with the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy,” said Doonan. ‘We’ve developed green racing protocols, and are working in connection with them.”Roger Penske, whose Team Penske partners with Porsche in the IMSA GTP class and also owns the IndyCar series, has been dismissive of the viability of EVs in motorsport. “We didn’t buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to run around there with electric cars,” he told The Detroit News in 2021. The iconic Indianapolis 500 attracts 300,000 fans every Memorial Day weekend, while the electric Formula E race series has struggled to gain traction.

Penske also owns more than 200 auto dealerships, and dealers have struggled to move EVs. “I don’t think you're going to see the world go all-electric,” said the soft-spoken 86-year-old, whose corporate headquarters are just up the road in Bloomfield Hills. “I think you’ll see hybrid solutions in all kinds of transportation sectors.”

Porsche is targeting 80% of its vehicle sales to be electric by 2035 and meet global government edicts, but the brand’s performance DNA is built around the shrieking, gas-powered flat-6 cylinder engines of its 911 supercar. Chevrolet’s V8-powered Corvette and Ford’s Mustang coupe carry similar emotional weight in their brands.

And all three vehicles play a key role in the future of IMSA — and its international partner, the World Endurance Championship — with multiple entries aimed at fans who crave the melody of high-revving V-8 and V-6 engines.

The intent of IMSA, Porsche and their fuel partners is to show that synthetic fuels can take the stresses of auto racing. Pass that test, and they feel consumers will adopt synthetic fuels for their own internal combustion engine cars.

There are 1.3 billion ICEs on the road in the world today.

Porsche showed off the fuel at the brand’s Rennsport Reunion 7 at Laguna Seca Raceway in California this fall. The brand used synthetic fuel in all its vehicles at the event — both in race cars on the track and in support vehicles like Cayenne SUV media shuttles. The e-fuel was even pumped it into a 1950s-vintage Porsche 356 to show that any gas engine can run on it as efficiently as current fuels.

“Racing has always been used as a test bed for manufacturers, and (electrification) is a new technology out there, so that's why there's all this interest from all the manufacturers to get involved,” Michael Andretti, CEO of Andretti Autosport, told The Detroit News.

Insiders along the IMSA paddock say the development of e-fuels may be one of the most important roles racing has ever played in the industry. With the coming bans on gasoline-fired engines, governments are transforming automakers into public utilities similar to electric companies. The intent is a closed loop of zero-emission transportation with batteries produced from windmills and hydro power.

Porsche’s Hanu Oni plant in Chile seeks a similar closed production loop. The plant’s fuel is created using energy generated from Punta Arenas wind power, a geographic location where wind turbines run at peak efficiency some four times greater than Germany’s windiest spots.

Porsche admits that the alternative fuels processes — like batteries — aren’t cheap with the company investing $100 million in synthetic fuel research. But the alternative — lackluster endurance EV racing or an outright government ban — would be even more costly for the multibillion-dollar world of motorsport.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.