Declaration from COP26: The Embarrassing Silence of the Automotive Nations
It is probably the smallest common denominator that was achieved in the overall, from the perspective of climate science, far from sufficient COP26 in Glasgow in the chronically delayed transportation sector. 2035 as the phase-out date for combustion engines in "leading markets"; this does not seem particularly ambitious and is already "common sense" today. The EU wants to bring the emissions of new cars to zero by 2035 anyway, and manufacturers like Volvo, Audi, and the German Stellantis subsidiary Opel will sell only electric vehicles much earlier.
Germany's refusal to commit to this under its outgoing and continually stubborn transport minister, who clings to a hopeless minority view on e-fuels, is just embarrassing – and a poisoned farewell gift to the coalition negotiators in Berlin who are staunchly striving for a new alliance. It fits the shockingly visionless image of the decade of CSU transport ministers – one prefers not to speak of an era here.
Thus, it almost follows naturally in Europe and industrialized nations, considering that with rising CO2 prices, driving a combustion engine will become much more expensive, and battery-electric cars already achieve at least price parity in acquisition, but even more so in total operating costs. In terms of total emissions over the lifecycle, they are already miles ahead and will keep getting better if the energy transition is finally carried out consistently.
The idea that new combustion engines will still be sold in 15 years seems outright absurd.
Equally risky is the ambivalent strategy, particularly of Volkswagen and BMW. Especially considering that both manufacturers have e-models in their lineup that already make their own combustion engines look outdated. It almost seems a bit schizophrenic, definitely contradictory and not very consistent.
Daimler and Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius's line is clearer: by 2030, the brand with the star is to achieve 100 percent emission-free new cars, the faster, the better, as he has now set as the guiding principle. It is bizarre that a car boss must justify such a strategy in 2030. And Källenius hastened to add for diplomatic reasons that combustion engines are not a "bad bank."
BMW could have been the spearhead - a German Tesla
In the case of BMW, it is particularly annoying, if not negligent, because the Munich-based company was miles ahead in e-mobility, and an all-purpose electric car i4, which actually should have followed the avant-garde but overly ambitious i3 early, would have significantly curbed Tesla's rise. Today's i4 is a wonderful car, but as a (still) multi-drive model, it is "me too" compared to Tesla's and especially Korean manufacturers Kia and Hyundai's dedicated, space- and energy-efficient electric cars (whose omission from the list is puzzling given their electric power). The iX? Too large, too heavy, and too expensive to really be considered a "world-saving car."
Toyota: From Pioneer to Latecomer
And Toyota? Mutated from pioneer to latecomer, having missed the entry into pure e-mobility, officially announcing the continued optimization of combustion engines, and in 2021, introducing the Aygo X, a small car exclusively with a combustion engine and a consumption of 5.4 l/100 km. At least: Tokyo is also pressing on the electric pedal and will launch the first pure electric car, the bz4x, next year, following the Lexus UX300e, okay, alongside the Stellantis-loaned Proace and Proace City Electric in the van segment.
But honestly: Anyone in Germany today considering buying a new car and willing to spend the average price of 36,300 euros according to statistics, really does not need to buy a combustion engine anymore, as there is a quite diverse and now large selection of fully electric all-purpose and everyday vehicles of almost every type – from small cars to minibuses. The declaration from Glasgow lags behind technological reality. Some manufacturers do too – even their own.
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