Transport Minister Volker Wissing has announced more speed in the expansion of electric mobility. The FDP politician said on Thursday in the Bundestag, the short-term available climate-neutral Mobilitt in private transport is the electric mobility. “If we want to reduce CO2 quickly, we have to use it more vigorously. We want to meet the climate protection targets in the transport sector.”
Electromobility in the passenger car sector is an important building block for this. However, the same applies to electricity-based fuels – not only in air traffic, but also in shipping, commercial vehicles and in existing passenger car fleets. “Every contribution to CO2 reduction is important,” says Wissing. Mobilitt must also continue to develop in a “technology-open” way. That’s why you can’t switch everything to one drive. At E-Mobilitt, the expansion of the infrastructure is one of the most pressing issues for him: “Nobody buys an e-car if he waits hours at the charging station.”
Not enough e-fuels for passenger cars
Previously, Wissing had told the specialist service “Tagesspiegel Background”: “We have to use the various energy carriers where they are most efficient. In passenger cars, this is the electric drive,” he said. E-fuels, i.e. synthetic fuels, will be needed above all for air traffic. “In the foreseeable future, however, we will not have enough e-fuels to operate the now registered cars with combustion engines.” The minister went on to say: “If you look at the EU regulation, you can see that the decision for e-mobility has been made.” If the switch is accelerated, Germany will also be able to achieve the target of at least 15 million fully electric cars by 2030 set by the new federal government.
The transport policy spokesman of the Union faction, Thomas Barei (CDU), then criticized: “Federal Minister Wissing and the FDP say goodbye to alternative fuels and make a change of course.” This is a clear breach of word. “From the always much praised openness to technology in the field of Mobilitt is not much more. This harms Germany as an automotive location, and it harms climate protection, because the existing fleet also needs a CO2-friendly future, otherwise the high climate target cannot be achieved.” Parliamentary group vice-president Ulrich Lange (CSU) said: “Due to the blanket decision of the traffic light for the electric car, millions of car owners can still fall painfully on the Fe.”
VDA promotes openness to technology
In the election program of the FDP it says: “Climate-friendly synthetic fuels are already available today for all types of transport that can be used in conventional combustion engines without technical modification.”
Hildegard Mller, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group: “Europe and Germany do not exclude any technology that is needed worldwide to achieve the climate targets in road transport.” Wissing must keep to what he and his party promised in the election campaign. “Of course, we also need e-fuels from renewable energies for road transport. Without e-fuels, the vehicles that are already in operation cannot make a contribution to climate protection.”
Success of the e-mobility depends on the charging infrastructure
According to Mller, the focus is on electromobility, whose success stands and falls with the expansion of the charging infrastructure. In Germany, around 30 million passenger cars with petrol or diesel engines will still be on the road in 2030. “They must be supplied with synthetic fuels from renewable energy sources in order to be climate-neutral.”
The head of the energy association BDEW, Kerstin Andreae, said with a view to Wissing: “The clear commitment to electric mobility and to the goal of having 15 million fully electric cars on the streets by 2030 is an important signal for the energy industry and all charging club operators.”
Jens Hilgenberg, Head of Transport Policy at the environmental association BUND, is proposing a rejection of e-fuels in passenger cars. “In terms of energy efficiency, price and availability, synthetic fuels are not an option for passenger cars now and in the future.”
ADAC for E-Fuels
Greenpeace transport expert Tobias Austrup said Wissing should immediately present initial measures for more climate protection in transport. “It is not enough that Volker Wissing now accepts that the combustion engine is at an end. He must set up an immediate program in traffic that makes large, heavy fuel guzzlers more expensive with a new registration tax, abolishes the company car privilege and determines an end to the combustion engine as early as 2025.”
The ADAC considers e-fuels to be elementary in order to achieve climate protection goals. Technology president Karsten Schulze told dpa that despite an ambitious ramp-up of electric mobility, at least 30 million existing passenger car vehicles with diesel or gasoline engines will still be on the road in Germany in 2030. “Without e-fuels, these will not be used in a CO2-reduced manner and can be operated in a climate-neutral manner in the future.”
Tesla as a role model for German manufacturers
Wissing also sees it as the task of the German automotive industry to empower people. “Tesla has succeeded in inspiring many customers with its models, which I would also like to see for the German car manufacturers.” The Federal Government will ensure that charging with renewable electricity remains affordable. Therefore, he can only advise to switch to CO2-neutral drives. The use of fossil fuels will become more expensive in the future.
The FDP politician wants to make it easier for the politicians to prescribe a speed limit of 30 km/h on their roads. “The local communities know best what is good for their inhabitants. That’s why I’m open to different approaches and fields of experimentation.” However, he was not convinced by a flattening speed of 30 km/h. On through roads, this speed limit makes less sense. (dpa/mer)
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From the data center:
Development of pure electric cars in Germany January 2019 to December 2021
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