What's all this about?
Ford is part of a €3.5 million (about £2.57m) research project based in Germany that could see cars with normal combustion engines matching electric vehicles for emissions and economy.
How so?
Well, the three-year project - led by Ford and involving various leading academic and governmental bodies in Germany - is investigating dimethyl ether (DME, a commonly used non-toxic propellant in aerosol sprays) and oxymethylene ether (OME1, a liquid usually employed in the chemical industry as a solvent). These fuels are similar in character to diesel but yet feature almost no particulates, while the fuel efficiency of the development Ford Mondeo mules used in the project should also skyrocket.
How are DME and OME1 made?
They're either generated from natural fossil gas or bio-gas, or through a process called 'power-to-liquid', which uses renewable sources (solar or wind power) along with CO2 captured from the air.
So we're using CO2, to reduce CO2 emissions?
That's about the gist of it. Werner Willems, a powertrain technical specialist from Ford of Europe, said: "The CO2 produced by a car powered by DME from renewable sources could be comparable to the amount generated by a marathon runner covering the same distance - but with performance similar to a diesel-powered vehicle. This is a project that could help place vehicles with a significantly reduced carbon dioxide and particulate emissions on the market at affordable costs."
Matt Robinson - 14 Sep 2015