Source: Monthly reports of Malaysia Automotive Association
A year ago, new vehicle deliveries stopped as the first Movement Control Order (MCO) was in force although 141 vehicles still reached their customers. A year later, although the MCO is still in force in varying degrees, sales and deliveries continue and in April 2021, the Total Industry Volume (TIV) was the third highest in 12 months with 57,912 units registered.
Cumulative sales for the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2021 were 89% higher,as would be expected with sales in March and April 2020 having been impacted severely and dropping to the lowest level ever.
For some brands, new vehicle supply was also a factor in April sales being 12.3% lower than March due to the global shortage of computer chips used in the many electronic systems in cars today.
On the production side, it was the same thing a year ago as plants were also ordered to stop operations and only 275 units were reported to have been completed in April 2020. This year, 51,390 vehicles were assembled locally during the same month. As mentioned earlier, shortage of computer chips – a crucial item – saw production dropping diminishing.
93% of vehicles assembled locally were passenger vehicles (excluding pickup trucks).
It should be noted that the as Mercedes-Benz Malaysia does not wish to reveal its sales numbers, they are not included in the data above.
Forecast for May
The Malaysian Automotive Association expects the TIV to continue falling, and May registrations are likely to be lower than April. Although the latest MCO allows for businesses and factories to continue operating, stricter controls on public movements may dampen sales.
Besides the effects of the MCO, the Hari Raya festive period would also be a factor in diminished sales volume. Additionally, supplies of vehicles are also likely to remain affected by the chip shortage.
♦ Charles Leclerc, who had qualified with the fastest time and crashed at the end of the final session but could claim pole position on the grid, lost that position as the damage to his Ferrari’s gearbox was too great. This gave Red Bull driver Max Verstappen the pole position, with Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas alongside. Uncharacteristically, Lewis Hamilton had qualified only in seventh (and moved up to sixth).
♦ The tightness of the circuit makes passing difficult so the status quo was maintained for most of the front runners although Alpine F1’s Fernando Alonso managed to move up two positions from his grid position to 14th.
♦ Left alone to represent Ferrari, Carlos Sainz slowly took time off the gap with Bottas which was about 3 seconds with 10 laps completed.
♦ By lap 13, gaps were beginning to open up as some drivers were urged to pick up the pace. Sergio Perez, who was 20 seconds from his Red Bull team mate, was trying hard to get past Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
♦ Nikita Mazepin (Haas F1) and Lando Norris (McLaren) were some of the drivers who got black and white flags to warn them about track limits. If they did it too many times, the Stewards would give them time penalities.
♦ With 29 laps done, all eyes were on the pits to see who would come in for their tyre changes. It was Lewis Hamilton who was the first, follow by his team mater Bottas was was around 63 seconds behind Verstappen. And then disaster struck for the Finn to make it worse as a front wheel could not come off the Mercedes-AMG. As a result, the tyre could not be changed – and it meant retirement for Bottas.
♦ Amazingly, Pierre Gasly (Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda), who was just ahead of Hamilton, came in and returned to the track still ahead of the Mercedes-AMG driver. But Vettel was quick to exploit the pit stops, passing Gasly and Hamilton to take fifth place.
♦ With half the 78-lap race completed, Verstappen was not secure yet as he had a lead of only 3 seconds ahead of Sainz. With Bottas out, there was a strong possibility of Hamilton losing his championship lead and implications for the team as well.
♦ With 30 laps remaining, Norris was in third – too far from Sainz but 7 seconds ahead of Perez. Vettel was a further 11 seconds but trying very hard with what has been an uncompetitive car.
♦ Hamilton was not giving up easily and pushed hard although, unlike other tracks where he could push forwardm difficulty overtaking held him back behind other cars.
♦ As the laps counted down, Perez was one of the more aggressive drivers, trying hard to pass Norris and be on the podium place instead of the McLaren driver.
♦ Yuki Tsunoda (Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda), who seemed to show promise at the start of the season, was the last car to pit and he was down in 16th position.
♦ As 10 laps remained, Hamilton came in for a new set of tyres, aiming to go flat out to the finish and improve his position from seventh and more importantly, try and set the fastest lap and get that one bonus point. He was the only driver to come into the pits twice – and he was also about to be lapped by Verstappen.
♦ Perez kept the pressure on Norris right till the end, coming within less than 2 seconds, but his fight could not continue as Verstappen crossed the finish line – and into the championship lead.
With all its twists and turns as well as tight corners, you would think that the street circuit for the 67th Monaco Grand Prix would be the toughest on brakes among all the circuits of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship. However, it’s not and according to Brembo technicians, the Monaco Circuit falls into the category of tracks that present an average challenge for the brakes. On a difficulty index scale of 1 to 5, it is classified as a three, exactly the same as the tracks of the last three races.
The circuit stands out for its high aerodynamic load and the considerable percentage of braking time. The calipers and brake fluid reach high temperatures and vapour lock was a common phenomenon in the past, causing the lengthening of the brake pedal action.
Brembo carbon doesn’t melt at 3,000°C
Carbon discs began to be used in Formula 1 in the 1980s, and then spread into other motorsport competitions. Indeed, no other element offers that special combination of light weight, high thermal conductivity and absence of dilation, even at 1,000°C, a distinguishing feature of Brembo’s F1 discs.
The density of carbon is 1.7 grams per cubic centimetre, compared with 7.8 grams for steel and 7.3 grams for gray cast iron. Its thermal expansion coefficient is 1/15th that of steel and 1/11th that of cast iron. The melting point of carbon is higher than 3,000°C, compared with the 1,200°C of cast iron and 1,800°C of steel.
3 metres make all the difference
Carbon discs aren’t suitable for road use, mainly because the braking system doesn’t reach the minimum operating temperatures needed, but also due to their high consumption. Some of their benefits, however, can be found in the carbon ceramic discs of which Brembo is the main worldwide manufacturer.
Carbon ceramic discs allow a saving of 5 to 6 kgs in weight compared with traditional cast iron discs. What’s more, their lifespan may even equal that of the vehicle they’re mounted on, depending on how it’s driven. But, above all, carbon ceramic guarantees a reduction of about 3 metres in the braking distance from 100 km/h to 0 km/h compared with a traditional disc.
4.6g deceleration after the tunnel
Of the 11 braking sections of the Monaco Circuit, two are classified as very demanding on the brakes, another two are of medium difficulty, and the remaining 7 are light. The hardest for the braking system is the one that comes after the tunnel (Turn 10): the cars arrive at 307 km/h and have to get down to 90 km/h within just 121 metres. To do this, the drivers brake for 2.47 seconds, applying a load of 146 kgs on the pedal and experience a deceleration force of 4.6g.
870 braking points
Despite being the shortest World Championship track at just 3.337 kms, the Monaco Circuit has 11 braking points per lap (although only one of them is particularly intense). On 4 turns, the brakes need to be used for no more than 1.1 second. The drivers use their brakes for 18.7 seconds, corresponding to 27% of the total race time.
Notwithstanding the 7 braking points per lap where the load on the pedal is less than 90 kgs), the overall load exerted by each driver from the starting line to the checkered flag is more than 62 metric tons. Only in Singapore – also a street circuit – is the figure higher than this. It also has to be said that the braking system is used about 870 times on the Monaco track, from start to finish.
The 2021 Monaco Grand Prix will start at 3 pm in Monaco/9 pm in Malaysia tonight.
Next month, a car driven by Paul Walker in the first ‘Fast and Furious’ movie in 2001 will be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. It’s the orange 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo which also appeared in the 2003 instalment ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’. It was used for multiple interior and exterior shots. Under the bonnet is the famed 2JZ-GTE 3-litre turbocharged inline-6 engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.
According to Barrett-Jackson, the car was prepared specially for the movie and then returned to original form with the Lamborghini Diablo Candy Orange pearl finish and Troy Lee-designed ‘Nuclear Gladiator’ motif along the side. Extensive documentation accompanies the vehicle, including a Certificate of Authenticity.
Barrett-Jackson, which bills itself as ‘The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions’, handled the auction of the personal collection of cars belonging to the actor who died in an accident in 2013. Walker’s collection consisted of 18 cars and 3 motorcycles and Barrett-Jackson collected a total of US$1.32 million (RM5.37 million) for the 5 cars which were auctioned at prices varying between US$220,000 (RM895,500) and US$385,000 (RM1.57 million).
The most notable was the 1995 BMW M3 Lightweight model (shown below) – not one but five – that he owned. Walker was an avid fan of BMW and had a total of seven M3s in his collection (including the 5 Lightweights).
After a forced cancellation last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Formula 1 World Championship is able to return to the classic street circuit of Monaco this year for the fifth round. This will be the 67th Monaco Grand Prix since the first one was held in 1950 as the second round of the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship. Although it was not run in the first half of the 1950s, when it resumed as a venue on the calendar, it would remain there every year with 2020 being the first time that there was no Monaco GP.
The Monaco circuit runs around the seaside resort city and is narrow with many tight turns, but the drivers love it. It is a challenging track with no run-offs, just concrete walls and barriers, and the relentless nature of the circuit is what makes it so special.
This year, Aston Martin joins Mercedes-AMG to supply the FIA Official Cars. At Monaco, the Safety Car will be a Vantage (below) while the Medical Car will be a DBX SUV (above).
“For me, personally, in terms of workload for the driver, Monaco is the toughest because there is no time to rest” said Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas. “It is literally corner after corner, and even the straights aren’t really straight, you are always turning even just a little bit.”
“There’s really no race like it… it’s such a unique, intense weekend for the drivers and the team, with no margin for error. It puts the fire under your ass, and we love the challenge!” added his boss, Toto Wolff.
The 3.337-km circuit has been resurfaced in a number of locations and it’s in good condition, according to Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing. “There’s significant track evolution, thanks also to the support events. We saw solid performance from all three compounds, with a similar time gap between all of them. We’ve seen nothing to suggest that teams will deviate from the usual one-stopper at Monaco, with the soft and the medium preferred,” he said.
The key to competitiveness is to gradually build pace through each session in order to peak during Saturday’s crucial qualifying session. That process is even more difficult this year due to the reduced duration of Friday’s practice sessions. With the narrowness of the track, it is vital to get a good position on the starting grid.
While completing a lap, the driver’s vision at high-speed and their ability to react quickly to any changes in the environment is crucial. This is especially challenging at a track like Monaco, which is narrow and twisty, with blind corners and potential surprises around every one of its 19 corners (8 left-handers and 11 right-handers).
As the weekend progresses, the drivers are filtering through different reference points to pick the quickest lines, the latest braking points and progressively build confidence. This is particularly crucial in Monaco, knowing any accidents in the practice sessions could limit their running and even their chances to take part in Qualifying.
Intense super-short, super-quick lap
With limited overtaking opportunities in Monaco, single lap pace in qualifying is vital which puts pressure on the outlap to ensure the car crosses the start line in optimum shape to begin the timed run. The driver will adjust their brake balance continuously through the outlap while weaving, accelerating and braking to generate temperature in the brakes and tyres, while also charging the ERS system so they have maximum power to deploy on the timed lap.
In Monaco, the challenge and intensity are crammed into a super-short, super-quick lap that requires maximum precision and maximum concentration. There’s no relenting… one slip of focus, and the driver and team’s hard work will be wiped away.
Hamilton at the top
Lewis Hamilton continues to lead in the Drivers Championship, as does his team. His closest challenger is Max Verstappen who is 14 points behind and whose Red Bull Racing team is also second, 29 points behind the Mercedes-AMG team.
The most successful driver at Monaco has been the late Ayrton Senna, with 6 wins that started when he was with Lotus in 1987. Senna also contributed 5 wins to McLaren’s total of 15 wins, the most of any constructor.
With most countries having movement restrictions of one kind or another over the past year, many driving enthusiasts have taken to racing online – sim racing. It was therefore not surprising that the first edition of Lamborghini eSports ‘The Real Race’ in 2020 was a major success, attracting more than 2,500 drivers from 109 countries.
The competition returns with 10 races for its second year in 2021 with a new and upgraded regional format. Once again, the world’s leading sim racers will compete driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO in the simulation racing game, Assetto Corsa Competizione.
More global approach
Following 2020’s inaugural competition won by German sim racer Nils Naujoks, this year’s event offers a more global approach to ‘The Real Race’. Racers will compete both in traditional Grand Prix and in three Endurance races to earn points within their regional tournaments in Europe, America and Asia.
The competition will take place from June to November in which racers around the world can sign up for the open qualifiers, running weekdays Monday to Friday (to sign up, go to https://esports.lamborghini/). The top 40 players from the open qualifiers go to the closed qualifier hosted every Saturday. Finally, the top 20 participants from the closed qualifiers will enter ‘The Real Race’ on Sunday, competing twice on the same track. The 10 weekly qualifiers for each region will offer participants the chance to earn points for their respective regional ranking and climb the ladder to become the next regional champion.
6 months long
“eSports is a field where we want to play a major role,” said Federico Foschini, Lamborghini Chief Marketing & Sales Officer. “’The Real Race’ is 6 months long, allowing players to live the thrill of true competition through the preparation and participation in races against some of the best sim racers in the world. We’re proud to host this competition and to offer the winner the opportunity to live a real-life immersive experience in the world of Lamborghini and be provided with the prospect of a career in eSports.”
For ‘The Real Race’, the Huracan GT3 EVO, a 3-time winner of the Daytona 24 Hours, has received an exclusive race livery from Lamborghini’s Centro Stile, its in-house design department. The livery is customizable in 12 different versions by competitors, with each car and displaying the trademark logos of partners, Kaspersky and Assetto Corsa Competizione.
Lamborghini Official Sim driver
The winners will enjoy will a track experience with the Lamborghini Squadra Corse and a VIP experience at Lamborghini Headquarters as well as a chance for the TOP 1 player of each regional ranking to become a Lamborghini Official Sim driver.
Assetto Corsa Competizione was developed alongside car manufacturers and provides a dynamic platform for Lamborghini’s latest racing series. The game is also used by official Lamborghini Squadra Corse test and race drivers in their real-world preparations.
This second edition of ‘The Real Race’ strengthens Lamborghini’s support and commitment to the eSports scene. After launching its first digital competition last year, Lamborghini has signed partnerships with major gaming brands on the eSports scene including Rocket League and Asphalt 9: Legends, which now offer players the opportunity to drive Lamborghini models including the Huracan STO and the Essenza SCV12.
Drag races between supercars and aircraft are rare and do not take place very often as it would not be easy to get permission, especially if such an exercise which uses military equipment like a fighter jet. But once in a while, a publication or manufacturer can get the permission to organise and Bugatti was able to do so recently.
The French carmaker was able to arrange for its Chiron Sport – which has a top speed of over 400 km/h – to challenge the Dassault Rafale Marine, a French fighter jet that can fly at more than Mach 1.6 or around 1,975 km/h.
Second duel with a jet fighter
The high-octane rendezvous between the two super machines took place at a naval base in the north-west of France. It was not the first time a Bugatti challenged a jet before; in 2007, a Veyron 16.4 took on a Eurofighter Typhoon in a drag race. In the latest duel, the Chiron Sport and the Rafale Marine would be measured up against one another in acceleration, torque and even braking behaviour.
It wasn’t a matter of turning up on the runway and taking off. There was an elaborate process taking many weeks of planning to even the most minute detail. “Precision and preparation are everything. Everything happens very quickly in the Rafale Marine and every move you make has to be right. And the same goes for the Chiron Sport at high speeds,” explained French Navy pilot Etienne. “At high speeds, everything has to go perfectly both in the Chiron Sport and the Rafale Marine. The runway isn’t all that long or terribly wide for the both of us. This comparison will be a challenge for everyone,” added Pierre-Henri Raphanel, who drove the hypercar.
This encounter with a jet was a first for Raphanel, a racing driver. “We may only be driving straight ahead on a runway but setting off alongside a jet demands a great deal of attention and concentration, especially at high speeds,” he explained. With the Chiron Sport, it is the combination of seemingly never-ending power output and torque – 1,500 ps and 1,600 Nm – that delivers incredible thrust.
The hypercar takes the lead
It wasn’t surprising that the 8-litre Chiron Sport had the lead soon after taking off. The hypercar accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and then reached 200 km/h after just 3.7 seconds. 13.1 seconds after leaving the start line, it was already at a speed of 300 km/h and the total time it took to reach 400 km/h was 32.6 seconds.
“I pulled away from the Rafale over the first few hundred metres, but after a few hundred metres more, it was around 20 metres above and alongside me in the air. An incredible and fantastic sight!” recalled Raphanel later.
For the aircraft, it was a different measurement: it passed 165 km/h after 150 metres and 210 km/h after 250 metres, and lifted off the runway after 450 metres at around 260 km/h.
Stopping from high speed
To be able to decelerate stably at high speeds, both machines use extra-special brakes. The Bugatti driver initiated his braking manoeuvre after approximately 1.5 kms, at which time it was doing over 350 km/h. The stopping power was provided by a powerful brake system with disks with a diameter of 420 mm at the front (with 8 pistons) and 400 mm at the back (with 7 pistons).
It takes the Chiron Sport 491 metres to come to a standstill from 400 km/h. It covers 114 metres when decelerating from 200 to 0 km/h. Due to the shortness of the runway and the safety regulations, the Chiron Sport braked at just 210 km/h and the Rafale Marine at 250 km/h.
To compare its braking performance with that of the Chiron Sport, the Rafale Marine approaches the runway at approximately 280 km/h, makes contact with the ground, and catches the arresting gear with its tailhook on the rear, just like on an aircraft carrier. The plane comes to a standstill within 150 metres. “It’s a very extreme sensation, as if you were driving into a wall or like a controlled fall,” said Etienne. The Chiron Sport brakes powerfully but with less abruptness. “With the air brake at the rear, the Bugatti remains incredibly directionally stable, even during abrupt braking manoeuvres down from high speeds,” explained Raphanel.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is known to be one of the major causes of climate change, causing global warming. However, it is a by-product of modern industrial processes and unavoidable. To address the issue of rising carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere, carmakers (as well as manufacturers in other industries) aim to become ‘carbon-neutral’ in the near future. This means that their processes, products and activities, while generating carbon dioxide, will be balanced with strategies that offset the CO2 generation to achieve net-zero emissions.
The approach most commonly being adopted, at least as far as the products are concerned, is to stop making and selling motor vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) that have been major contributors of carbon dioxide and other undesirable gases in the environment. Some have announced a time-frame for this approach, after which they will not sell models with ICE or, in some cases, models with only ICE (meaning they will still have hybrids). These companies are investing heavily in electric vehicles (EVs), powered by battery packs or fuel cells.
Toyota does not plan to completely stop selling models with petrol or diesel engines in the near-term but, at that same time, it already has a growing line of battery electric vehicles (below) for markets that want such vehicles.
Committed to carbon neutrality by 2050
Toyota is one of the companies firmly committed to carbon neutrality by 2050. However, the company’s strategy does not entirely focus on electrification of its products to the extent that future models will no longer be powered by ICE in the near-term. In time, it may decrease the amount of development of totally new ICE powertrains as EV acceptance in the market rises.
The thing is, advanced countries have developed the infrastructure to support EVs, so consumers are assured that owning an EV is not going to be inconvenient. Apart from widespread availability of public recharging stations, some countries also offer incentives to those who buy an EV. As a result, some countries in Europe already see EVs accounting for a large proportion of new vehicle sales.
For more advanced markets with the necessary infrastructure to support fuel cell vehicles, Toyota already has the second generation of its Mirai FCEV available.
Different pace in different regions
However, in other countries and regions, the transition to EVs may be at a different pace. For example, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore already have clearly-defined plans to ‘go electric’ but Malaysia does not (although recent news suggests that some incentives may soon be announced). Countries in Africa might also be slower to stop allowing ICE vehicles due to their economies and other factors.
Toyota wants to make sure that ‘no customer is left behind’ and for this reason, it will use multiple technology solutions in its quest to achieve carbon neutrality, developing advanced electric vehicles as well as continue to make ICE as clean as possible. The carmaker’s view is that companies and societies should work together with all available technologies to achieve the best and fastest results towards carbon neutrality – using whichever solutions and infrastructures suit their local needs best.
7th Environmental Action Plan
Toyota is currently in its 7th Environmental Action Plan which runs until 2025. The targets for this plan include reduction of CO2 emissions by 30% or more (on average) compared to 2010 levels, and boost cumulative sales of electrified vehicles to 30 million or more. All models in the Toyota and Lexus ranges worldwide are to be available with either full electric or hybrid powertrains by around 2025.
At the same time, CO2 emissions are to be reduced by 18% or more throughout the entire vehicle life cycle (including manufacturing and driving) compared to 2013 levels.
“The goal is carbon neutrality. Promoting Battery Electric Vehicle sales or banning gasoline cars is not in any way the goal. It is a must that cars already on the road be made carbon-neutral. Rather than narrowing the way out by placing importance on the creation of regulations focused only on new cars and internal combustion engines, it is necessary to expand the paths to carbon neutrality by including all approaches,” said Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, in his capacity as President of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
If you have always loved the original Mini, the Mini Remastered, Oselli Edition by David Brown Automotive will delight you. The British coachbuilder that uses modern as well as traditional methods to create contemporary luxury models has used its expertise to create this version of the iconic city car.
Only 60 bespoke units of the Mini Remastered, Oselli Edition will be offered and they can be lefthand drive or righthand drive. Pricing starts from £98,000 (about RM575,000) and personalisation, which most customers would want, would add extra cost.
Made in partnership with race powertrain specialists, Oselli, the new car from David Brown Automotive is the most performance-focused version of the Mini Remastered series created to date by the company. Hand-made to order, it comes with a 1450 cc twin-carb engine with an output of 125 bhp/153 Nm and gets to 100 km/h from standstill in a claimed 7.8 seconds.
Key performance enhancements to make Mini Remastered, Oselli Edition ready for the track include a number of technical changes overseen by Oselli, including a hand-ported and polished cylinder head, strengthened crankshaft, high-torque performance orientated camshaft, and a limited-slip differential. There is a remastered 5-speed gearbox, while an automatic version is also available (offered as a 4-speed set-up, with a 1380 cc engine).
Other sports-centric tuning around the car including high-performance brakes by AP Racing, sports-orientated suspension by Bilstein and a free-flowing sports exhaust system. The car is provided with larger 13-inch wheels fitted with high speed-approved tyres.
Unique exterior colour themes are available with contrasting stripes that carry through to the interior design. All exterior graphics are hand-painted while hand-enameled badging adorns the exterior with full black chrome brightware. A choice of ‘Carbon Grey’ and ‘Old English White’ base colours match the accents in either ‘Competition Red’, ‘Royal Blue’ or ‘Heritage Green’.
The grille of the car shows the number ‘60’ in contrasting hues as a nod not only to the race numbers that show on cars taking to the track, but also to the 60 years since the original Mini first rolled off the production line.
For a performance-orientated sporty look and classic car feel. The Mini Remastered, Oselli Edition can be ordered in either a 2-sea or 4-seat configuration, with the 2-seater featuring bucket seats and a rear hand-trimmed roll-cage, plus a 4-point seatbelt harness. There is also the option to order the car with twin fuel tanks for extra range on longer journeys or race events.
For those who plan on not using the car for racing, there is an interior lined with hand-trimmed luxury leather and Alcantara materials which give a premium look to what was originally a basic classless city car.
The new 911 GT3 Cup (992) makes its racing debut in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Monaco Grand Prix this weekend and it will be the first time the car’s 4-litre naturally aspirated engine will run on Esso Renewable Racing Fuel. Referred to as ‘eFuel’, this is a blend of fuels mostly made of lower carbon, renewable, bio-based components.
The first racetrack test of the Esso Renewable Racing Fuels was held 2 months ago at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands. As in the entire 2021 season, the first version of Esso Renewable Racing Fuels will be used there. This is mainly based on an advanced biofuel whose raw materials consist of organic waste. On this basis, an ExxonMobil team of scientists and engineers composed a racing fuel that, in initial tests, has shown the potential for significant reductions in CO2 emissions.
Second version to be used next year In the course of the 2022 season, the two companies plan to use the second version of the Esso Renewable Racing Fuels which, for the most part consists of eFuels. These eFuels are the focus of the collaboration between ExxonMobil and Porsche. eFuels are synthetic fuels that are generated using renewable energy from hydrogen and carbon dioxide from the air.
With the eFuel-based Esso Renewable Racing Fuel, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 85% if it complies with the current fuel standard according to the necessary blending. The eFuel comes from the Haru Oni pilot plant in Chile that generates hydrogen, which is then combined with captured carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere to produce methanol. ExxonMobil is providing a license and support for the proprietary technology to convert the methanol which will result in a lower-carbon fuel.
Future consumer adoption potential In the pilot phase, over 130,000 litres of eFuels will be produced in 2022. Porsche and ExxonMobil are working together to gain valuable experiences to find pathways toward potential future consumer adoption. The switch to so-called eFuel is planned over the course of the 2022 season. As the main buyer of this fuel, Porsche will use the eFuels from Chile in the Porsche Experience Centres in addition to the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in the 2022 season.
“Purely electrically powered vehicles have the highest priority for us,” emphasized Michael Steiner, member of the Board of Management for Research and Development at Porsche. “eFuels complement our drive strategy perfectly. They offer our customers the option of driving cars with combustion engines and plug-in hybrids that are almost CO2-neutral. By working with ExxonMobil, we can test the eFuels under demanding conditions on the racetrack. We are thus taking another step on the way to a marketable and CO2-reduced eFuel that can replace conventional fuels.”
