(Berlin) - The board of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has set the goal of achieving “climate-neutral mobility by 2050 at the latest”. To this end, a concrete implementation plan will be developed as part of a “VDA Climate Strategy 2050”. Alternative drives and fuels such as hydrogen and e-fuels, i.e. synthetic fuels for internal combustion engines produced using renewable electricity, would also be part of the solution.
“The rapid ramp-up of electromobility is a clear priority for us by 2030, especially for cars and light commercial vehicles,” explained VDA President Hildegard Müller. Companies will invest over 50 billion euros in the expansion of electromobility over the next few years. When it comes to politics, the lobby organization explains that “a decision about tightening climate targets and fleet limits should only be made after a careful impact assessment.” The automotive industry also expects a rapid expansion of the public and private charging infrastructure for e-mobility in Europe. The number and performance of the charging stations installed so far are “far from sufficient”.
However, the association is still relying on the tried and tested for the time being: “The modern combustion engine will continue to be of great importance for achieving climate goals,” he emphasizes, and also sees “great demand for this type of drive in the future.
Associations: Hydrogen and e-fuels are “an important contribution to the climate protection strategy”
The day before, four industry associations declared in a joint statement that hydrogen and e-fuels were “an important contribution to the climate protection strategy”. However, the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) is endangering the “ramp-up of the hydrogen economy”. Germany should build a globally leading hydrogen industry in which hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels play a crucial role. The draft bill for the national implementation of the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), in which the EU sets the minimum amounts of renewable energy for the transport sector, is “heading in the wrong direction” and should be stopped (see also news from October 12th 2020).
Against the background of a hearing on the subject of hydrogen in the German Bundestag, the associations emphasized in a joint letter the need to “completely revise the draft bill and submit it again to the association hearing and departmental vote”. The proposed law neither creates the framework conditions for the market ramp-up of a German hydrogen economy nor does it lead to additional CO2 savings in transport, according to the joint letter from the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DWV), the Mineral Oil Industry Association (MWV), and the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA).
Only with an “ambitious implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive and the use of synthetic fuels” is a transport transition and the achievement of the EU climate targets by 2030 possible. In the existing vehicle fleet with combustion engines, a quick and effective reduction in CO2 can only be achieved by using e-fuels. Vehicles with combustion engines that are powered by climate-neutral fuels based on green electricity have “a similarly good overall energy balance as battery-powered vehicles.” A study commissioned by the petroleum industry serves as evidence (see link).
According to Werner Diwald, CEO of the DWV, renewable electricity-based fuels “offer the possibility of directly reducing emissions in vehicle fleets with internal combustion engines”. During the transition phase, the production of e-fuels and the direct use of hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles must be “incentivized” on an equal basis. The opportunities of a future hydrogen economy and industry now need to be secured through regulation.
The letter was sent to the Federal Chancellery, federal and state ministries, members of parliament and members of the National Hydrogen Council.
deep link
https://www.vda.de/de/presse/Pressemeldungen/201028-Wir-sind-bereit.html
https://www.vda.de/de/presse/Pressemeldungen/202027-Umweltministerium-gef-hrdet-Hochlauf-der-Wasserstoffwirtschaft.html
https://www.mwv.de/frontier-studie
https://power-to-x.de/dwv-referentenentwurf-zu-red-ii-blockiert-entwicklung-der-wasserstoffwirtschaft/
Photos
The automotive industry also sees “great demand” for combustion engines / © European Union
