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Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

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Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#11

Post by bioemerl »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #2

I think heavy duty trucks and such will still work on gasoline even in an EV future. So why don't these companies try to solve that problem in a carbon neutral way?

It's just hard to manufacture gas in a efficient way. It's a really complex and hard to make molecule and the most abundant source of ingredients for it is the carbon in the ground.

You can use atmospheric carbon but it's very hard to pull it down out of the air because it's very dilute.

That's why hydrogen is such a big deal and being focused on instead. It's harder in every respect, but the base component is water, which is very easy to get.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#12

Post by driverdan »

It sounds like they ran it on straight ethanol. This isn't new or news. Many production cars can run on straight E in good weather. The mileage claim doesn't make sense though because ethanol is less energy dense than gasoline.

It'd be nice if this blogspam linked to the source so we could verify details.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#13

Post by theshrike79 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #7

There is no surprise that synthetic fuels work. They worked for the nazis in the 1940s and they still produce them in South Africa, Qatar and other places. In fact in a lot of ways they are better than today’s gasolines because they have a low aromatic and olefin content. The question revolve around affordability and sustainability. Most of the interest was driven by fears we would be running out of oil, now it is dr…

Current synthetic fuels cost around 10€/litre, which comes to around $37/gallon.

Not really viable for day to day use yet.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#14

Post by lars-b2018 »

YesThatTom2 wrote: post #10

I’m confused. This sounds like a good thing if the problem was an oil shortage, not CO2 pollution. Explain why they aren’t solving the wrong problem?

The synthetic fuels are made from sources such as hay, which, theoretically is a net neutral to the carbon cycle since the hay's carbon came from the atmosphere already. This approach doesn't contribute additional CO2 to the atmosphere like traditional fuels do. However, not sure what the carbon costs are to create this synthetic fuel so that is a variable in the total carbon gain to the system.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#15

Post by kuschku »

> it’s safe to assume that it’ll likely charge a hefty premium over traditional gasoline.

> Also worth noting is that while, yes, this synthetic fuel appears to make vehicles slightly more efficient, it still greatly trails the efficiency of EVs. Consequently, vehicles using this fuel will likely always be more expensive to drive per mile than their electric equivalents.

So why are we doing this again?

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#16

Post by theshrike79 »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #2

I think heavy duty trucks and such will still work on gasoline even in an EV future. So why don't these companies try to solve that problem in a carbon neutral way?

Heavy duty vehicles will move to either diesel/biogas hybrids (they can replace ~30% of the diesel with gas nowadays without any major engine mods) or to full CBG with combustion engines. Farms can produce their own CBG with relatively minor investment, basically fueling all work vehicles with cow farts =)

Some kind of hydrogen/biogas generator hybrid might be viable too.

Some will become fully electric, but it's heavily dependent on the usage profile. There is a mining truck in use today that's never charged - but it's a special case where it goes uphill empty and comes back down in full load with regenerative braking.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#18

Post by andrepd »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #2

I think heavy duty trucks and such will still work on gasoline even in an EV future. So why don't these companies try to solve that problem in a carbon neutral way?

Long haul is better served by rail, and EV trucks work perfectly well for short haul. I don't necessarily see that that is the case.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#19

Post by worldsayshi »

kuschku wrote: post #15

> it’s safe to assume that it’ll likely charge a hefty premium over traditional gasoline. > Also worth noting is that while, yes, this synthetic fuel appears to make vehicles slightly more efficient, it still greatly trails the efficiency of EVs. Consequently, vehicles using this fuel will likely always be more expensive to drive per mile than their electric equivalents. So why are we doing this again?

It might be worth using for non EVs once we give healthy prioritization to sustainability?

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#20

Post by JumpinJack_Cash »

Mistletoe wrote: post #9
JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Do you tell yourself graphs like this are faked or that they don’t matter? https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/... https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/...

You and I will be six feet under before any of those graphs will even put a minuscule dent in our quality of life and lifespan.

And I am saying us, but the same is true for 2-3 generations down the road. Perhaps more.

There are countries with millions of people which have a median lifespan of 48 years.

It's high time to get priorities straight.

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