Germany Contact - Wolfgang Lehmacher

Renewable Energy
The spark that ignites
Politics and industry pull together on the
issue of electromobility
The issue of electromobility is
electrifying car manufacturers
and the big power companies in
Germany. Increasing oil and petrol
prices, strict regulations on CO2
emissions and tough competition
in the car industry are bringing
about a gradual reversal of trend
away from fossil fuels and towards
electric drives. In early May, the
federal government created a
“National Platform for Electromobility”
to stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with industry in supporting
the development of electric drive
systems.
The German government has set itself
an ambitious target: by 2020, one
million electric vehicles and a further
500,000 fuel cell vehicles are
to be on the roads in Germany. In 40
years’ time, urban traffi c should be
able to dispense largely with fossil
fuels. Meeting this target requires
the development of innovative drive
technologies. To this end, electromobility
has a key role to play: vehicles
with an electric drive do not generate
any emissions and nor do they rely on
fossil fuels. In the long term, the government
believes that electric vehicles
should “fi ll up” with electricity
generated from renewable energy
sources.
Extent of electrifi cation
will increase
We are currently still a long way from
reaching the “one million electric
cars target”. At the moment, there are
only a few thousand of these vehicles
on Germany’s roads. However, the
experts are unanimous: the extent of
electrifi cation will increase continuously
in the next few years - in Germany
and throughout the world. A
recent study carried out by management
consultants, McKinsey, for the
German Environment Ministry highlights
the potential of electromobility:
to adhere to the 2°C target set by the
IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change], Germany would have to
More cars to fi ll up on electricity in the future
reduce its annual CO2 emissions substantially.
Passenger traffi c creates 12
per cent of Germany’s total emissions
and therefore needs to make a signifi -
cant contribution.
The authors of the study assume
that in 2020 electric/hybrid vehicles
will be able to achieve a global market
share of up to 33 per cent of new car
business with a possible sales volume
of up to 470 billion euros. In turn, this
could result in the creation of approximately
250,000 new jobs in the battery
and electronics industries.
As well as the increasing importance
of electromobility, the optimisation
of conventional combustion
engines still remains right at the top
of the agenda. This is because, with a
total of approx. 42 million passenger
cars in Germany, one million electrically
driven vehicles would only
be just over two per cent of vehicle
volumes. Vehicles with combustion
engines will make up the lion’s share
of the passenger car volume in the
foreseeable future as well – hence the
need to make conventional engines
that are even lower in emissions in
future.
National Platform for
Electromo-bility agreed
The federal government wants to support
electric drives with help from the
“National Platform for Electromobility”
launched at the beginning of May.
The aim is that political, business and
14 Germany Contact India 2 / 2010
Photo: Federal Ministry of Transport, Building & Urban Development