Audi expands e-diesel research

Audi has announced that it is expanding its research into synthetic diesel fuel with a new pilot facility in Switzerland. The automaker has been engaged in synthetic diesel research for four years. The company announced the expansion of this project earlier this month.

The new plant, which will use only water, air, and electricity as raw materials, represents a significant advance in sustainability, the company said.

The pilot plant will have the capacity to produce 105,669 gallons of synthetic fuel per year. Audi is teaming up with Ineratec, a chemical reactor technology company, and Energiedienst AG, an electricity company, to set up the factory. Construction of the facility will begin in early 2018.

From 2014, Audi has partnered with an energy tech company named Sunfire to work on synthetic diesel at a facility in Dresden where the fuel was made with a different technology, though the process was based on the same principles. According to Audi, the synthetic fuel produced at the new plant in Laufenburg, Switzerland, will be a lot cheaper as the plant can produce e-diesel in compact units.