Explained | The future of fossil fuels

The electric vehicle movement is gaining momentum but fossil fuel vehicles will continue to be around in the near future and this is a good time to examine how far we have come in reducing their ability to pollute and what are the solutions.

To begin with, there’s Euro 7, Europe’s final emissions standard likely to be implemented soon following which fossil-fuel-driven cars will be phased out completely.

European emission standards often set the precedent for other nations and have indeed informed India’s existing BS-6 guidelines. With Euro 7, the emission standards are set to get far more stringent and are part of the larger European Green Deal, which aims to make the continent emission-free and carbon-neutral by 2050.

For many industry professionals in Europe, the proposed standards are downright draconian, given that they are far more severe than in the past.

For example, new Euro 7-compliant vehicles are to emit only 30mg of nitrogen oxides (NOx) per kilometer, say the proposed guidelines. At present, the cut-off is 60mg for petrol vehicles and 30mg for diesel vehicles.

This is down to the fact that, contrary to popular belief, it is diesel that has emerged as the cleaner fuel. Diesel happens to burn far more efficiently than petrol as the engine uses a higher compression ratio.

Simply put, petrol emits much higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) than a diesel engine. Where petrol wins out is the fact that it has lower sulphur content and doesn’t emit as much soot as a diesel engine.

With diesel particulate filters and Adblue taking care of the soot and the NOx emissions, diesel’s polluting quotient is far lower than that of petrol, particularly a diesel hybrid.

Euro7 standards, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), also look at reducing NOx emissions for trucks and buses by a staggering 90 percent.

A report filed by the ICCT claims that the proposed changes, once implemented, will go a long way in reducing ambient particulate matter and ozone levels and could avoid approximately 35,000 premature deaths in the EU region between 2027 and 2050.

Unlike India, European emission standards do not wish to give any concession to biofuels. In India, petrol sold in 2022 is to be blended with 10 percent ethanol, which is renewable and extracted from plants.

However, ethanol’s propensity to absorb moisture, coupled with its tendency to corrode several rubberised engine components, pose limits to its efficacy as an effective stop-gap measure. Ethanol is also a far less energy-efficient compared to petrol and diesel.

Synthetic fuels will, in all likelihood, prove popular in the world of motorsport, where electric powertrains are yet to find popular approval.

Made from a process that extracts carbon from the atmosphere, synthetic fuels do appear to solve most problems related to fossil fuels—they are theoretically carbon neutral and do not require the extensive overhaul of assembly lines, ancillary parts, and refuelling infrastructure that electric cars do.

However, for synthetic fuel to be truly clean, it must be created using renewable energy sources because it requires a combination of CO2 and hydrogen for production. And this makes synthetic fuel very expensive to produce which in turn, limits its prospects.

Electricity is much cheaper. Even in the best case scenario, the use of e-fuels promises 85 percent reduction of CO2 by 2050, when Europe’s target, and that of many other countries, is to reduce vehicular CO2 production by 100 percent.