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At Walton Bridge Garage, the smell of petrol and oil is what gets us up in the morning. However that could soon all change thanks to Audi.

As solar, wind and water power start to become more common place as a source of alternative energy, the motor industry has very much looked towards electricity as an alternative fuel source.

A number of car manufacturers from Toyota to BMW already have electric hybrid models on the road, but they’re a far cry from the electric powered hover cars depicted in futuristic film landscapes such as Demolition Man and more recently the renewed Total Recall.

Electric powered cars have had their teething problems and, some will hope they’re not the future of the motor industry. The love of cars isn’t necessarily about speed, it can for the large part be about the sound and the smell of an engine ticking over. But like the rest of the world we all have a responsibility to care for and maintain our environment, something motor cars and the fuel they run on don’t.

This could all be about to change as Audi announce the creation of a synthetic fuel, done so without the use of petrol. It’s called e-benzin and not only does it lack petroleum but also contains no sulphur and benzene. The result? It burns very cleanly and the higher compression ratio on the engine also means an increase in fuel efficiency.

This latest announcement builds on Audi’s e-fuel strategy with their soon to come e-diesel and e-ethanol synthetic fuels, designed for use on an industrial scale. Testing of e-benzin should start within months and the intention is to modify the fuel so that it can be created purely from water, hydrogen, C02 and sunlight.

There’s no telling at this early stage if e-benzin will be a success or not. But should it stand up to Audi’s scientific testing regime it could replace petrol as a fuel completely, dramatically changing the face of the motor industry in the process. Audi could begin to produce more of the fuel as early as 2016, so the auto-mobile revolution could be closer than we think.

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