BMW is reportedly preparing to invest in a fuel company that will look into extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turning it into carbon-neutral gasoline.

    BMW's hybrid venture capital arm, BMW I Ventures, announced on Tuesday that it will invest in Prometheus Fuels, a Silicon Valley startup that aims to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and process it into carbon-neutral gasoline.

    The investment from BMW I Ventures will help prepare the company to launch its retail business as early as late 2020.

    Founded in 2019 by Rob McInnis, an engineering PhD from Yale University, Prometheus fuels aims to improve processes and techniques for capturing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for existing vehicles.

    According to the company, its entire production process remains carbon neutral, powered entirely by solar and wind energy.Using its proprietary capture, fuel synthesis and fuel separation technologies, the company says it can produce the same fuel as petroleum and gasoline molecules.

    Considering that its business will start by capturing carbon dioxide, Prometheus's fuel will not produce a net emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from vehicles, thus making it a zero-carbon net fuel.It would also discourage the extraction of oil and natural gas, which previously could produce gasoline on the same scale.

    Unlike other sustainable fuels that require cars to be modified, Prometheus's petrol is designed to work seamlessly with existing internal combustion engines, allowing buyers to choose to fill up at the petrol station and drive straight on.

    The company's goal is to price it at the same level as conventional gasoline, and then lower it over time so consumers don't have to worry about price pressures to use it.

    "The ability to produce gasoline from the air at a cost competitive with fossil fuels is a game-changer," Greg Smith, a partner at BMW I Ventures, told reporters.

    The average car is on the road for more than eight years, meaning that even if the world switched to buying 100 per cent electric cars tomorrow, today's existing cars with internal-combustion engines would take nearly a decade to get off the road.

    Prometheus Fuels makes carbon-neutral gasoline by capturing carbon dioxide from the air, immediately reducing the climate impact of today's internal-combustion vehicles."

    Prometheus estimates that if all fuels made from oil and gas were replaced with similar zero-carbon fuels, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 billion tonnes a year, or about 25 per cent of global emissions.The company said an investment from BMW I Ventures led a $12.5 million round of financing.

    "BMW I Ventures' investment will help us accelerate our efforts to bring zero-carbon fuels to market quickly," Rob McInnis told reporters.

    Prometheus Fuels hopes to begin selling its fuel at retail stations in California later this year and expand into the rest of the U.S. and other international markets by 2021.The company says it is also working on technologies for carbon dioxide removal and sequestration.

    According to media reports in February, BMW I Ventures announced an investment in AutoFi, a technology company whose business could fall away from the traditional model of buying and selling cars.

    SAN Francisco-based AutoFi runs an e-commerce software platform that for the first time allows buyers to buy a car entirely online and access financing, providing a fast, mobile-first settlement experience.

    Prior to that, BMW I Ventures also invested in Optical ARTIFICIAL intelligence software developer Alitheon, a deep technology start-up that is developing generative engineering software aimed at automating the product development process.