Geely shares that apart from embracing new energy mobility, its e-fuel products are one of the ways to go towards a carbon-neutral future.
The CIS Methanol production plant in Iceland
While battery electric vehicles (BEVs) offer zero emissions, the Chinese car brand says that achieving universal coverage for fully electric cars will take a long time. The same goes for the infrastructure needed to support an EV-based society.
With that said, Geely is convinced that an interim solution to gaining a smaller carbon footprint is by way of its methanol-based e-fuels. Since 2005, the brand has heavily invested in this, and it is already used in markets like China.
In 2015, the brand itself began to produce “green methanol” when it invested in an Icelandic company known as Carbon Recycling International (CRI). The company produces methanol by capturing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by the volcanoes of Iceland. The captured CO2 is then combined with hydrogen via electrolysis at the CRI while using renewable energy.
Of note, this electrolysis process of methane production is more environmentally friendly compared to mining it outright. Methanol is a greenhouse gas, but scientific journals like Nature say that e-methanol production is cleaner at least compared to regular fuels.
Methanol-powered taxi fleet
Geely has already brought the carbon capture technology and e-methanol production method back to China and it has already built a carbon dioxide-to-methanol plant in Anyang, Henan. Primarily, the e-methanol it produces will contribute to the carbon emission reduction from heavy industries.
It would not be a stretch though, to see e-methanol propel passenger cars. Geely itself, together with Circle K Denmant, the Aalborg University, and Fonden Green Hub Denmark, have already tested methanol-powered versions of the Emgrand sedan in Europe. Furthermore, a methanol-powered Emgrand taxi fleet is already deployed in China.
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