When politicians are confronted with questions about the sense and nonsense of electric cars, one answer is heard particularly often: the industry has long since decided in favor of e-mobility, it is already “much more advanced”. But now another manufacturer is breaking away from the herd after BMW.
In an interview with four daily newspapers, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares, whose group includes the brands Chrysler, Fiat, Opel and Peugeot, makes it clear that the decision to go for electromobility was political emissions,” says Tavares. He points to hybrid cars that “remain affordable and bring an immediate carbon benefit.” With the European energy mix, according to the manager, an electric car has to drive 70,000 kilometers to offset the CO2 footprint of battery production. However, he also points out another fact: a hybrid is “half as expensive as an electric car”, electric drives are 50 percent more expensive than combustion engines – and that is why the middle class will no longer be able to afford new cars in the long term. “That will have social consequences,” says Tavares. Far fewer cars are likely to be sold in Europe, and they will probably no longer be built here either: the politically enforced upheavals that are useless for the environment could lead to the European car industry becoming irreparable damaged, warns the CEO. He sees dark times ahead: “In a few years we will see which manufacturers survive and which don’t.” barely disguised reference to upcoming plant closures. The effects of the dirigiste measures are already noticeable today: model ranges are being thinned out, clean and economical combustion engines are disappearing from the range. At the same time, European politicians refuse to accept synthetic fuels, which could reduce the CO2 emissions of existing cars to zero, as an alternative. (aum/jm)
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