BEM demands a rejection of "technology openness" and a focus

Despite a pleasing increase and a record high in new registrations of electric cars, the president of the Federal Association for eMobility (BEM), Kurt Sigl, warned of an investment conflict in new drive technologies at a Handelsblatt event. Sigl criticized the inconsistency in the introduction of the mobility transition by politicians. Recently, new studies from Uniti and VDI, among others, had attempted to cast doubt on the environmental friendliness of electromobility.

"We are far from reaching the goal of one million electric vehicles by 2020. As a car nation, we are not meeting our own expectations and are at best in the middle of the pack in Europe," stated the association's president. 

To bring more dynamism to electromobility, BEM believes there needs to be a "clear veto to the much-promoted approach of technological openness in the passenger car sector." According to the association, this strategy requires multiple investments and infrastructure and provokes a resource conflict over green energy. This could be avoided if technologies were used only based on their efficiency and resources: synfuels in air travel, hydrogen in industry and heavy-duty, and battery-electric drives in passenger transport.

For energy storage technology, Sigl also expects a "quantum leap for batteries" soon. Manufacturers are making significant progress in terms of lifespan, resource use, and recyclability. Sigl called for more planning and financial security for manufacturing companies in the field of battery-electric mobility so that Germany can catch up in international competition.