Ineos Automotive is pessimistic that artificial fuels can prolong the lifetime of the combustion engine, even after the EU determined to permit restricted use of the carbon-neutral petrol various for brand new vehicles after 2035.

“At the moment, there’s just not enough synthetic fuel to go around, and it’s going to be extremely expensive,” CEO Lynn Calder advised the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit on Wednesday.

The maker of the Ineos Grenadier off-roader has been sharply crucial of the EU and UK bans on the sale of latest ICE vehicles from 2035, arguing that it forces automobile makers in direction of battery-electric drivetrains with out admitting options.

Synthetic fuels or e-fuels, that are made by extracting atmospheric carbon, are touted by corporations together with Porsche and Bugatti as an eco-friendly various that will enable them to proceed promoting ICE vehicles. However, Ineos is not sure that artificial fuels might fill the hole.

“It feels like it’s a really long way off, in terms of having sufficient fuel to imagine keeping a combustion engine fleet alive at a cost that is a total cost of ownership for customers that would be acceptable,” Calder mentioned.

Ineos is working a prototype hydrogen gas cell model of the Grenadier, which hyperlinks the automobile operations with the broader dad or mum firm and its chemical operations, together with making hydrogen. 

However, firm founder and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe has beforehand mentioned the hydrogen additionally suffers from excessive price, together with a scarcity of fuelling infrastructure.

“You come again to the economics of manufacturing and the infrastructure required [with hydrogen],” Ratcliffe said at the unveiling of the Ineos Fusilier SUV. 

“In the US, it costs one fifth what it does in Europe to make hydrogen, so in the EU you will have to pay €500-600 a tank for fuel versus €120-130 a tank in the US.”