LONDON: Combustion engine cars will live on decades after electric cars go mainstream — provided their owners can source synthetic fuels easily.
In a recent poll by UK insurer Footman James, synthetic fuels were the favoured zero-emission alternative for over three quarters of classic and collector car owners.
Asking its audience ‘How do you think you would power your classic / collectable car if petrol or diesel wasn’t available?’. 76 per cent voted for synthetic fuels, and the other 24 per cent thought they would convert their classic / collectable car to run on electric power. The results show the importance of affordable sustainable fuels being easily available to power classic and collector cars in the future.
While Footman James recognises the classic and collector car industry makes up a small part of the 34.4 million Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars (including hybrids) on the road today, it is specifically looking at how UK drivers may power their ICE cars at a point some decades away when petrol or diesel is no longer available.
“This is a fascinating question, and one that we are often asked,” said Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA) chief executive Garry Wilson.
“The reality is that if people want to keep running their classics on petrol, there will be plenty available for several decades to come. My main message is don’t panic. Most of us will not have to make this difficult decision.”
“Some classics are deeply impressive converted to electric, but do it because you like how they drive, not because you think you are contributing to saving the planet, which you won’t be unless you drive it enough miles to recover the CO2 spike caused by battery manufacture,” he said.
“Sustainable fuels on the other hand are a drop-in solution that, when they become widely available, we can all use without any modifications to our engines, slashing our carbon emissions immediately to 80 per cent of net-zero. That’s a huge environmental win that also protects the character of our classics.”
(HCVA), a "not for profit" organisation whose mission is to protect and promote the sector and secure its long-term future, agrees e-fuels can be a sustainable method – both manufacturing and infrastructure to deliver the fuel – to power classic cars in the future.
It campaigns on behalf of individuals and companies in the classic vehicle world including specialist restorers, dealers and parts suppliers.
Among the HCVA’s early achievements is its campaign to raise awareness of challenges around the introduction of E10 fuel, and additionally it has a strong belief in sustainable fuels.
It projects that the sector is estimated to have an annual turnover of £18.3 billion (RM99.3bil).
