Driving with green electricity instead of burning petrol or diesel – this should significantly reduce CO2 emissions from transport. But one of the federal government’s goals is shaky. And the budget crisis is causing uncertainty.
At a car summit in the Chancellery, the federal government and industry sought to join forces in the expansion of electromobility. In order to advance this, the purchase costs of electric cars would have to be reduced – all participants agreed on this, the federal government spokesman said on Monday. Fully electric cars could make a significant contribution to reducing emissions and decarbonizing the transport sector.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and several federal ministers as well as representatives from manufacturers and suppliers, unions and works councils and from the energy sector took part in the second top-level discussion of the “Strategy Platform for Transformation of the Automotive and Mobility Industry”.
The federal government’s goal is shaky
The federal government’s goal is to have 15 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2030. The expansion of electromobility is considered an important contribution to achieving climate goals – the transport sector is a problem child. At the beginning of November, the number of purely electric cars was around 1.3 million, according to the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
From the perspective of the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW), the 15 million target will be far missed according to current forecasts. Experts assumed there would be 7 and 10 million electric cars. “Continuing like this is not an option,” said BDEW President Marie-Luise Wolff. VDA President Hildegard Müller called the goal “very ambitious”. However, the auto industry expressly supports e-mobility as a “central technology” on the path to climate-neutral mobility.
The chairwoman of the IG Metall union, Christiane Benner, called the current situation with electromobility “absolutely unsatisfactory”. She spoke of a slow ramp-up on the German market and poor general conditions.
Prices for electric cars should fall
The federal government had already made it clear before the summit that electric vehicles should be competitive and make a breakthrough on the market. The focus is also on ranges and cheaper prices.
“Car manufacturers must now work without delay to ensure that there are affordable electric cars from Germany for the general public,” said Benner. “The individual mobility of the near future must be affordable for everyone. That would also be a significant and necessary boost for jobs in the German automotive industry.”
Many people are still holding back when it comes to electric cars, the ADAC explained. “Uncertainties about fluctuating electricity prices, vehicles that are hardly affordable, long delivery times and sometimes a lack of charging options contribute to this.” In Germany, customers only get three models for less than 30,000 euros, criticized the club, which represents millions of drivers. This also bothers the ecologically oriented German Transport Club. He demanded that German manufacturers have to offer more small electric cars.
After the summit, the federal government spokesman announced that the information available to buyers should be improved and the range of models should be increased. Electric cars are already cheaper over their entire life cycle than comparable combustion engine models.
Summit in times of budget crisis
According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, there is a large gap in the federal government’s finances. The court had declared a reallocation of Corona loans worth 60 billion euros from the 2021 budget to the climate and transformation fund invalid. Many programs for the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy are financed from this special pot – including the further development of electromobility and the expansion of the charging infrastructure. Cuts in funding programs are now possible. This could slow down the expansion of e-mobility. It has already become clear that from September only private individuals can apply for government funding to buy an electric car.
According to the Federal Government, participants at the summit emphasized the importance of announced major investments with a view to building up semiconductor and battery production capacities. VDA President Müller said that the auto industry needs clarity regarding industrial policy commitments that have already been made.
Expansion of the charging network
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) welcomed the automobile industry’s clear commitment to investing in charging infrastructure itself – this was confirmed at the car summit. The transformation can only succeed together. The energy industry has so far built 80 percent of the charging infrastructure in Germany. Germany has made very good progress in expansion over the past two years. “The expansion dynamic still needs to be increased further, especially in the municipal area,” said Wissing. The availability of charging infrastructure in cities is increasing too slowly. More needs to be done here.
The energy company EON and the car manufacturer Mercedes Benz announced that they were entering into a strategic partnership to advance electromobility. VDA President Müller said that the supply and production of vehicles would not be the possible bottleneck to achieving the 15 million target by 2030 – but that the charging infrastructure and usage costs, especially the price of electricity, would also be crucial. Opel boss Florian Huettl told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “In order to achieve the federal government’s goal of one million publicly accessible charging points by 2030, we need ten times more new charging points.”
Source: Stern
