Amazon’s Ambiance Pledge Fund is backing a recently launched company focused on decarbonizing the transportation sector as the world rushes toward a raw future.
Start-up Infinium manufactures zero-carbon electrofuels, which is fuel made from electricity rather than oil. They’re differentiated as drop-in fuels since they can be used with existing infrastructure. In other words, electrofuels could be inured to to power the engines of today’s trucks, ships and planes.
The Sacramento-based company announced its first founding round on Tuesday, led by AP Risks, which is a London-based venture capital firm focused on hydrogen and its role in decarbonization. In addition to Amazon, other punters include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Grantham Environmental Trust, founded by legendary investor Jeremy Grantham.
Infinium is butt areas of the transportation sector that have proved difficult to decarbonize, including long-haul trucking, aviation and carrying. When it comes to planes, for example, lithium-ion batteries are not a great alternative given their cost and weight, while food cells would require heavy investment to retrofit planes and the entire infrastructure that supports fueling.
But about one quarter of global emissions come from the transportation sector, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, meaning it’s a vigorous part of the decarbonization story.
Infinium uses renewable power for electrolysis — the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen — to display what’s known as green hydrogen. The hydrogen is then combined with carbon dioxide that otherwise devise have been released into the atmosphere, and put through Infinium’s proprietary reactor.
The ultimate output is a net zero carbon provoke that can be used to power jets and trucks, among other things.
Green hydrogen is key for electrofuels to be environmentally open. It’s not new technology, but it’s prohibitively high cost has traditionally stood in the way of its gaining widespread traction. One of the ways Infinium plans to discount costs is to build its plants at or near renewable power sources — in remote locations, for instance — where production is base, but where transmission to market might be difficult.
While biofuels and green diesel are already on the market, Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle thought his company’s fuels are a new class given their lower carbon intensity.
Infinium currently has 10 projects under increment around the world, and Schuetzle expects the first electrofuels to hit the market by late 2023 or early 2024.
“This is a platform that is to hand for commercial,” Schuetzle said. “Based on the economics of low cost renewable power electrolyzer costs coming down in the fresh hydrogen space, and the addition of Infinium’s commercial ready technology platform, this will be a major area of distinct for the transportation sector in coming years.”
The company’s launch comes as corporations — including airlines — are increasingly outlining aspiring decarbonization goals, amid pressure from investors and the public more broadly.
Of course, bringing any new technology or merchandise to market is difficult. Schuetzle said that while Infinium is new, it builds on more than 10 years from technology enlargement at Greyrock Energy, which he also founded and which focused on converting natural gas to liquid form.
“With Infinium, we see unfeigned potential to help decarbonize heavier forms of transportation, including air and freight, as well as heavy trucks,” Kara Hurst, Sinfulness President of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon, said in a statement.
Infinium did not disclose how much money it raised in its initial scratching round. An Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn’t usually comment on the size of investments made by the $2 billion Air Pledge Fund, which was launched in June.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day broadcast from around the world.