Porsche board member Frenkel
“Combustion engines will be around for a long time”
September 15, 2023, 2:47 p.m
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The FDP relies on e-fuels. Porsche, for example, would benefit from a tax break. Despite the increasing number of electric cars, demand for vehicles with combustion engines is not declining so quickly, says Porsche board member Barbara Frenkel.
Since Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner brought tax relief into play, they have been back on the agenda: e-fuels or synthetic fuels. The fuels, which in the best case scenario remain CO2-neutral, are significantly more expensive than their alternatives, which is why the FDP in particular wants to promote them by the state. Among other things, there is an exemption from motor vehicle tax and more favorable taxation of e-fuel company cars – steps that would put these vehicles on an equal footing with electric cars.
Barbara Frenkel has been on the board of the car manufacturer Porsche for four years.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Porsche AG)
One company that would benefit from this is Porsche AG, which is producing e-fuels in a pilot project in Chile and would like to quickly ramp up production. “I am of course happy about any support for the topic of e-fuels,” says Barbara Frenkel, Porsche Board Member for Procurement, in the “Zero Hour” podcast. “And I believe that it makes sense to be open to technology in the current phase.” Critics, however, argue that it is more efficient to use green electricity directly in the batteries of electric cars instead of first using it to produce e-fuels.
Frenkel’s central counterargument: Despite the increasing number of electric cars, the demand for vehicles with combustion engines is not declining as quickly as would be necessary in the fight against climate change. “Not all countries are developing at the same pace when it comes to the provision of charging networks. That’s why we believe that combustion engines will continue to exist in other regions of the world for a relatively long time,” says the Porsche board member. “And if you want to decarbonize, there is currently no other solution for these vehicles than synthetic fuels.”
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