Synfuel Debate: Too Late for Technological Openness

Volkswagen is right: it is and likely remains the most efficient method to provide propulsion in a car by storing regenerative electricity directly in a battery. As intermediate steps, perhaps natural gas as biomethane from residual materials is plausible, less so as the more energy-intensive e-gas. More plausible anyway than the unfortunate PHEV trend, which combines "the worst of both worlds" (Rolls-Royce): a thirsty turbo gasoline engine (preferably in a heavy SUV) and a half-baked electric drive (along with a small battery).

Hydrogen as the "champagne of fuels" is currently too valuable to be wasted in light vehicles. Whether research, such as that from the Likat Institute in Rostock, will bring forth a "game changer" remains to be seen. However, it is unlikely to match the efficiency of the direct use and storage of electricity. And energy-intensive-to-produce synfuels for legacy fleets?! One can only shout, leave it, that's a delusion!

You also can't take the murmurs about technological openness anymore. We had that for the last decades, and specifically the German automotive industry rather "technologically-closed" bet on the wrong horse of the internal combustion engine, because it was simultaneously a gigantic value creation machine. Environmental friendliness and efficiency were not necessarily a priority.

That the Volkswagen group, of all companies, which took diesel manipulation to its peak, but also only marked the tip of the iceberg, has now transformed from a Saul to a Paul, may be criticized. However, it is also explained by a painful purification process that the company had to go through and is still undergoing. The old saying stands: Better late than never. And above all, consistently. Because, looking at it soberly, the discussion process about the right technology has already been undergone and the overwhelming majority of experts are in agreement: Electric anyway, battery electric for cars, fuel cell electric for trucks, trains, ships or (much less!) airplanes. In the foreseeable future, battery technology will enable ranges on par with internal combustion engines, the resource issues are ultimately solvable, as is recycling. What are we waiting for? There's no time left for talking in circles.