Tesla stands for electric car. But there are cases in which the cars of the Palo Alto company are used to experiment with new types of powertrain.
The latest news in this sense comes from Germany where the outgoing Federal Minister of Research, Anja Karliczek, recently unveiled a Model Y defined “HyperHybrid”. The car, built on an experimental basis, is fueled by synthetic methanol. But how does it work?
A zero emission fuel
According to what was declared by Professor Robert Schlögl, director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and coordinator of the Carbon2Chem project, this technology would exploit the benefits of both electric powertrains, which are highly efficient, and synthetic fuels.
A 10 million euro "showcase".
The methanol-powered Tesla Model Y is part of a much larger project called Carbon2Chem, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions in the steel industry. The vehicle, whose modifications cost around 10 million euros, was developed and built thanks to the collaboration between various companies including Obrist DE, which worked with the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Dresden and the RWTH Aachen.
According to what was declared by the German Minister for Research, hydrogen, provided it is green, will in the future be a key solution to combat CO2 emissions. "Climate protection can only be successful with thegreen hydrogen - said the minister - This is why we are already supporting research and we are of the opinion that we will increasingly need chemical energy sources in the future”.
The methanol-powered Tesla Model Y, in fact, has as its main objective to lead the way and from innovation showcase. “Synthetic fuels have an important role to play in making climate-friendly and sustainable mobility systems possible worldwide. This is important in sea and air transport, or where an electric car charging station may not always be available in the future,” concluded Anja Karliczek.
