Streetscooter founder about mobility: "It is not enough to simply replace gas-powered SUVs with electric SUVs"

SPIEGEL: Mr. Kampker, you have founded an association called "Engineers save the Earth eV" That sounds self-confident to overbearing. Are engineers the new saviors?

Achim Kampker: The name is carefully chosen, but we do not see ourselves as a savior. However, it is the case that everyone likes to point to others when it comes to changing things. Non-politicians say politicians need to do something, small business owners point to big corporations and so on. Since my colleagues and I are engineers, we said: Let's start with ourselves. Because there is a lot of potential to do things better. The name of the club should send the signal: We understood, it is our mission to make the earth better.

SPIEGEL: But the engineers will not judge it either.

Kampker: That's right. Therefore, club does not mean "only engineers save the earth". I would be happy if all other faculties also took their own nose and formulated similar goals.

SPIEGEL: Engineers in particular have gotten a lot into the earth.

Kampker: That can not be denied. From an ethical point of view, we engineers are not obliged to anything. Normally our work follows the principle "higher, faster, further". What is technically feasible, we help to implement - and usually without evaluation, whether that is good or bad, useful or harmful. However, I believe we should urgently consider what service we are going to take.

SPIEGEL: And which service would that be?

Kampker: The service of sustainability. I'm the father of four young children and I want them to have a good life too. That's our responsibility. However, as engineers we have lagged far behind the possibilities we have in this regard. This is unfortunate, and there is only one plausible reaction: Spit in your hands and do better.

SPIEGEL: Next week the IAA will start in Frankfurt. Do you see signs in the automotive industry that engineers are acting the way you want them to?

Kampker: Ten years ago we started the topic of street scooters here in Aachen. That certainly did not change the world, but at least it showed that you can make a difference, that alternatives are possible. We are all together capable of doing much more than what is happening so far. Especially the auto industry is very sluggish and slow. And that's not enough - neither in terms of the environment, nor in terms of competition. We want to continue to be the best in the world, but far too little is happening.

SPIEGEL: In the announcements for the IAA, the big automakers give the impression that something is changing now.

Kampker: That may be, but it's only announcements. For years now a mobility change has been discussed in Germany, camps have long since formed, the arguments are known. Discussing is okay, but what made us strong earlier was action. That seems to have been forgotten.

SPIEGEL: There is action. For example, Porsche introduces an electric car with 600 hp for the first time.

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Kampker: Exactly, it stays with the "higher, faster, further". Who has the thickest battery, is the coolest. This has nothing to do with new thinking. We need breaks. It is not enough to simply replace the gas-powered SUV with the electric SUV. In that sense, it's true: the car industry is doing something, but that does not mean any progress. Maybe that will be fine for a while, but not for long.

SPIEGEL: Why is that?

Kampker: Most car industry executives say they have petrol in their blood - as a metaphor for their enthusiasm for combustion vehicles. In the meantime, to use this analogy, they would have to say: My wires are power cables. They do not do that. Sure, there are a number of corporate tips to the commitment to electric mobility. But that happens on a rational level. They know that they have to change something, but they are not convinced. However, as an engineer you should really want what you do. It takes enthusiasm to create a spirit of optimism, and I do not see a passion for powerful combustion engines.

SPIEGEL: It is often said by car manufacturers that one offers what customers want. So is it due to the demand that no rethinking takes place?

Kampker: There's something in that. There are small cars, but most of the customers are buying Stadtförsterautos, SUVs that are in terms of energy efficiency rather poor. So, although there is a wide supply, the customer makes one-sided decisions. That's the power of the customer, and that's often underestimated. The customers, we, are often too complacent. Even as a buyer, you have a responsibility that you can not just push away. Here I am again with my general topic: One must take hold of one's own nose.

SPIEGEL: Are there at least a few models that point conceptually or technologically into the future among the automobiles announced for the IAA?

Kampker: No. I think the manufacturers are still too much on the proven. Above all, they sell what has been sold well so far and maintain what has so far made the respective brand. No car has convinced me yet. Although it is clear that I do not presume to have the patent recipe for the car of the future.

SPIEGEL: How should the IAA look like in ten years, ie 2029?

Kampker: I think it would be good if we did not talk about an auto show, but about a mobility fair. On which also solutions are presented, how mobility can be reduced sensibly. If that were the case, we would have achieved a lot.

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