Wissing wants to focus on electromobility for cars

Created: 2022-01-13Updated: 2022-01-13, 7:07 p.m

We want to meet the climate protection goals in the transport sector”: Volker Wissing.

© Christoph Soeder / dpa

What role should synthetic fuels play in cars?

Statements by the new Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, caused a stir.

The Union sees a change of course.

Berlin - Transport Minister Volker Wissing has announced more speed in the expansion of electromobility.

The FDP politician said in the Bundestag that the short-term available climate-neutral mobility in private transport is electromobility.

“If we want to reduce CO2 quickly, we have to use them more. We want to meet the climate protection goals in the transport sector.” Electromobility in the passenger car sector is an important building block for this. The same also applies to electricity-based fuels - not only in air traffic, but also in shipping, in commercial vehicles and in existing car fleets. "Every contribution to CO2 reduction is important," says Wissing. Mobility must continue to develop "open to technology" in the future. That's why you can't convert everything to one drive. For him, the expansion of the infrastructure is one of the most pressing issues when it comes to e-mobility: “Nobody buys an e-car if they wait hours at the charging station.”

Wissing had previously told the specialist service “Tagesspiegel Background”: “We have to use the various energy sources where they are most efficient. In the car, that's the electric drive," he said. E-fuels, i.e. synthetic fuels, will be needed primarily for air travel. "In the foreseeable future, however, we will not have enough e-fuels to power the cars with combustion engines that are now registered." The minister continued: "If you look at the EU regulation, you can see that the decision for the E -Mobility has long since fallen.” If the switch is accelerated, Germany could also achieve the goal of at least 15 million fully electric cars by 2030, which the new federal government is striving for.

The transport policy spokesman for the Union faction, Thomas Bareiß (CDU), then criticized: "Federal Minister Wissing and the FDP say goodbye to alternative fuels and are changing course." This is a clear breach of promise.

“There is not much left of the much-praised technology openness in the field of mobility.

That harms Germany as an automotive location, and that harms climate protection, because the existing fleet also needs a CO2-friendly future, otherwise the high climate target cannot be achieved Electric car can still hurt millions of car owners on their feet. "

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In the election manifesto of the FDP it was said: "Climate-friendly synthetic fuels are already available today as an alternative for all types of transport that can be used in conventional combustion engines without technical retrofitting."

The President of the Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Müller, told the newspapers of the Funke media group: "Europe and Germany must not exclude any technology that is needed worldwide to achieve the climate goals in road traffic." Wissing must comply with what he and his party in the campaign had promised.

“Of course we also need e-fuels from renewable energies for road traffic.

Without e-fuels, the vehicles that are already in operation cannot make any contribution to climate protection. "

The focus is on electromobility, the success of which stands and falls with the expansion of the charging infrastructure, according to Müller.

In Germany there would still be around 30 million passenger cars with gasoline or diesel engines in 2030.

"You have to be supplied with synthetic fuels from renewable energy sources in order to be climate-neutral."

The head of the energy association BDEW, Kerstin Andreae, said with regard to Wissing: "The clear commitment to electromobility and the goal of having 15 million fully electric cars on the roads by 2030 is an important signal for the energy industry and all charging station operators."

The head of transport policy at the BUND environmental association, Jens Hilgenberg, considers a rejection of e-fuels in cars to be logical.

"In terms of energy efficiency, price and availability, synthetic fuels are not an option for cars now or in the future."

Greenpeace traffic expert Tobias Austrup said that Wissing should immediately present the first measures for more climate protection in traffic.

“It is not enough that Volker Wissing now accepts that the combustion engine is finished.

He must launch an immediate program in traffic that makes large, heavy gas guzzlers more expensive with a new registration tax, abolishes the company car privilege and sets an end to combustion engines as early as 2025.”

The ADAC considers e-fuels to be elementary in order to achieve climate protection goals.

Technology President Karsten Schulze told the dpa that despite an ambitious ramp-up in electromobility, at least 30 million existing cars with diesel or gasoline engines would still be on the road in Germany in 2030.

"Without e-fuels, these will not be used with reduced CO2 and in the future can be operated in a climate-neutral manner." dpa