Planned exit from combustion engines: This is how BMW boss Oliver Zipse reacts

Created: 06/30/2022, 10:17 am

By: Thomas Schmidtutz

Oliver Zipse: The BMW boss thinks the planned end of combustion engines is a mistake (archive photo).

© Imago/Sepp Spiegl

Combustion engines will be phased out in the EU by 2035.

BMW boss Oliver Zipse thinks that's a mistake.

Munich – BMW boss Oliver Zipse believes that a ban on new cars with combustion engines in the EU from 2035 is wrong.

"To put everything on one card these days is an industrial policy mistake," said Zipse on Tuesday in Munich.

Whether the necessary charging infrastructure for e-cars can be created by 2035 is an open question.

How Europe intends to ensure access to the crucial raw materials is unclear.

New dependencies threatened here.

BMW boss Zipse calls for technology openness

"Diversity and innovations - but not bans - have always made Germany strong as an industrial location," Zipse said in the run-up to the meeting of EU environment ministers on Tuesday.

The path to climate neutrality can also be created in a way that is open to all technologies: the integration of fuel cells and e-fuels in the combustion engine can reduce CO2 emissions and ensure resilience without new dependencies.

Diversity and innovations - but not bans - have always made Germany a strong industrial location

Oliver Zipse, BMW boss

According to a decision by the EU environment ministers, only new, climate-neutral cars should be sold in the European Union from 2035.

The ministers agreed on this on Wednesday night.

However, the EU Commission should now examine whether combustion engines powered by artificial eco-fuel can continue to be used on the roads.

The FDP in particular had campaigned for this.

(

)