Herbert Diess wanted to convert VW into the world’s leading electric car group. His successor thinks little of it. Oliver Blume prefers to rely on the tried and tested. “With e-fuels, combustion engines can be operated almost CO2-neutrally and are in demand worldwide,” he explains in an interview.
The new VW CEO Oliver Blume has a significantly different focus than his predecessor Herbert Diess, who wanted to focus the group entirely on electromobility. In an interview with the magazine “auto motor und sport”, Blume announced that many combustion models still have a future, for example with the Porsche brand. “Our strategy is to leave the combustion engines on the market for the time being because they are very popular in many regions of the world. At the same time, we are increasing interest in and sales of the all-electric models.”
Climate protection “must be thought of holistically,” says Blume, explaining his plans. “Electric mobility is an important lane. At the same time, there are more than a billion existing vehicles worldwide. They will be on the road for decades to come,” explains the VW boss.
“E-fuels are an effective, supplementary solution for this. Gasoline engines can be operated with them with almost no CO2 emissions. In this way, all vehicles can do their part to reduce CO2 – regardless of the type of drive. In addition, e-fuels can be used as hydrogen Derivatives are excellent to mix with fossil fuels. And every percent of the admixture is a contribution to climate protection.”
Blume’s predecessor Diess had rejected e-fuels because of their poor efficiency and, like other critics, criticized the high power consumption in the production of synthetic fuels. That is why they are very expensive and inefficient, the argument goes. In addition, unlike electric vehicles, cars emit climate-damaging CO2 when burning e-fuels.
In June, the EU environment ministers decided that from 2035 only new cars without CO2 emissions would be registered. However, at the insistence of Germany and other countries, the agreement leaves open the possibility that combustion engines powered by e-fuels can also be approved after 2035.
