Bugatti Could Provide Customers With Their Own Fueling Station

by Carl Malek | May 24, 2024

Bugatti is exploring methods to ensure its customers can continue to enjoy their bespoke vehicles including the possibility of giving them their own fueling station at home

Bugatti-Rimac CEO Mate Rimac stunned the press with his thoughts on home fueling stations

Bugatti is often considered to be a crown jewel in the automotive industry thanks to its bespoke lineup of hypercars that appeal to well-heeled buyers looking for the ultimate expression of performance and luxury. The Veyron and the Chiron are two recent examples of this in action but as the brand is forced to navigate an automotive market that’s undergoing change, it’s exploring ways that owners can still enjoy their products for years to come.

One potential option is giving buyers their own fueling station to help keep their ICE-powered hypercars running without the need to go to a traditional gas station to share the gas pump with Toyota Corolla owners fueling their lesser models for the rigors of everyday driving.

Synthetic fuels to play prominent role

Bugatti’s upcoming hypercar model could be a show piece for the brand’s home fueling plans.

This is according to a recent statement from Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac who claims that one way of making their lineup of vehicles stand out is to perhaps offer buyers the opportunity to have a fueling station installed in their own home while he was making remarks at the Financial Times’ Future of The Car Summit in London, England. Rimac used the event as an opportunity to share his unique idea stating “You could even make some beautiful Bugatti fuel stations for the homes of owners, using synthetic fuels.”

Synthetic fuels have been around for a long time with Nazi Germany being one of the first mass producers of synthetic fuel in World War 2 when it created ersatz fuel. Ersatz was made by liquefying coal, and in 1944, Germany produced more than 124,000 barrels of the substance daily to supplement its small petroleum reserves during the war. But while ersatz was limited to military applications, a new generation of consumer-focused synthetic fuel has been slowly seeping into the spotlight.

Porsche the 45% owner of Bugatti Rimac has been working on its own synthetic fuel for the past few years with the substance being produced by carbon dioxide and water with help from wind energy. While a prominent trade-off is that the company was forced to locate the pilot plant in Punta Arenas, Chile to maximize the amount of wind it could get, eFuel’s potential is hard to ignore with Porsche saying that eFuel allows a vehicle to have a nearly-neutral C02 operation footprint.

Bugatti’s new model could provide clues about fuel plans

The new model will not share a single component with current Bugatti models

While Rimac didn’t reveal any further details about their plan for home fueling stations, the company’s newest hypercar is slated to debut on June 20th and could provide some clues into the broader applications for synthetic fuel. The brand has stated in the past that the model will not share one piece with the Chiron or the Nevera with it being built from the ground up.

That includes the engine with the new model slated to get a naturally aspirated V-16 that replaces the older powerplant seen in the Chiron. This engine could potentially be a showcase for eFuel and having it appear here would allow Porsche to gain valuable real-world data from the substance when put into a production car. The low production numbers Bugatti does for its models will also make it easier for the substance to be used since demand for it will not be as high as it would be if eFuel was rolled out in a mass-market-oriented model.

As for the fueling stations, look for these units to potentially benefit from state-of-the-art technology while also being safer to install and use since the synthetic fuel’s unique properties would make it safer to store than traditional petroleum while also eliminating the harmful emissions that are being targeted by tightening emissions standards especially in Europe