autoregion international - 02/2022

6 In its coalition agreement, the “traffic light” coalition has presented an ambitious programme for the comprehensive decarbonisation of the transport sector. For example, only CO2-neutral passenger cars are to be registered in Germany before 2035. How do you see this ambitious goal being realised? Armin Gehl: In principle, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the objectives set out in the coalition agreement. However, we have to admit that the realisation is not successful in all areas, or that the wrong political course is being set, or that certain areas are not being worked on with the necessary intensity. Where do you see the course being set, that points in the wrong direction? Armin Gehl: Even though the Federal Minister of Transport is committed to the principle of technology openness in his public statements, we see a clear primacy in the political implementation of the promotion of e-mobility at the expense of other alternative forms of propulsion such as hydrogen or synthetic fuels – so-called e-fuels. We also consider the premature political stigmatisation of the internal combustion engine, which, as a piston engine, according to all experts still has considerable environmentally neutral development and innovation potential in the use of CO2-free fuels, to be a step in the wrong direction. What concrete political measures support your view? Armin Gehl: The prioritisation of e-mobility is already expressed in the available funding volume alone. So far, the purchase of electric cars has been subsidised with a volume of 4.6 billion euros through the so-called environmental bonus – and the trend is rising. For the installation of private charging stations for electric cars, the funding volume was recently increased to 400 million. For the research, testing and production of synthetic fuels, only about 100 million euros in government funding is available. This is Decarbonisation of the transport sector – is the direction right? Interview with Armin Gehl, Managing Director of autoregion e.V., Saarbrücken Are we on the right track towards decarbonisation of the transport sector or do the promises of politics prove to be too ambitious in the concrete implementation? Have we backed the right horse, especially when it comes to alternative drive systems, or are we in danger of missing out on important developments and technological opportunities? A discourse on possibilities and concrete political course-setting as a contribution to climate change in the transport sector. Image: © autoregion e.V. a blatant disproportion and in no way does justice to the potential importance of e-fuels and urgently needs to be corrected. Is the announcement by Economics Minister Habeck to stop or significantly reduce subsidies for hybrid vehicles a step in the right direction? Armin Gehl: The way out of the disproportionate state support cannot be to reduce, discontinue or expand support for drive systems that makes sense in itself, in favour of or at the expense of other drive systems. Along with other drive systems, e-mobility is a fundamentally important component of our decarbonisation strategy. And the hybrid drive – the combination of combustion and electric drive – represents an important variant alongside the pure battery-electric drive, at least as a bridging technology. Particularly against the backdrop of a charging infrastructure that is still inadequate, especially in rural areas, hybrid vehicles represent a sensible alternative to the purely electric vehicle. The driver of such a vehicle Armin Gehl, Managing Director of the association autoregion e.V.

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