Future Mobility with a Clear Conscience?

© Uli Regenscheit

Will the future see all of us travelling in auto-driving electric cars, or will we still be driving our large-engine SUVs ourselves in 2050? This is an issue which goes beyond rationality alone. A car is more than just a cost factor — it is a key symbol of our freedom and true individuality, which also explains why this discussion is often emotional rather than rational.

But are these feelings appropriate? Not in my view. It goes without saying that none of us are going to change how we move around overnight. It did not happen in power generation, my own industry, either. One in three kilowatt hours now consumed in Germany is generated from a renewable source. Likewise, conventional power generation has become more efficient, producing fewer emissions as a result. This change has taken about 15 years (since the Renewable Energy Act came into force) and the same principles should be applicable to mobility.

It requires numerous stakeholders, not just from the automotive industry, but also from other industries such as energy plant engineering. For example, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe started collaborating with partners several years ago to investigate new means of fuel production for mobility. The upshot is: we can now build large-scale plants generating gasoline from renewable electricity and at the same time reduce the CO₂ portion by between 70 to 90 %.

Of course, this fuel is costlier than fuel currently traded in Rotterdam. But that is not the whole story. Nowadays in Germany, the petrochemical sector has to ensure that fuel used here gives off 3.5 % less in CO₂ emissions. Failure to comply, according to §37 of the Federal Imission Control Act (BImSchG), renders the offender liable to a penalty of 470 euros per tonne of unattained CO₂ reduction. Penalties or added costs incurred following any failure by the fuel suppliers to comply with these figures are passed on to consumers in the form of higher fuel prices. Accordingly, reduced-CO₂ gasoline production has already become more economical, and the legal reduction quota has risen.

Besides constructing plants, the success of such projects depends crucially on the cooperation of industries that have so far worked alongside each other; namely energy suppliers, the petrochemical industry and the automotive industry. This task is far from easy, since, historically, these industries have been poles part in terms of innovation, expected return and other criteria. Politicians must establish the framework for such cooperation. Over and above the technical innovations concerned, this is not only a challenge, but an opportunity for Germany to blaze a trail in this field and lead the way to reduced-CO₂ mobility for Europe as a whole.

Electro mobility and/or new means of low carbon fuel production are just two of the possible technologies we can use to power our progress towards this goal. Achieving it, however, will require action in economic and political spheres and in establishing the right framework conditions. If this is not done, some companies and politicians will be left behind by the pace of development, the consequences of which are likely to be very costly. All of us — consumers, companies and politicians alike — have had to learn a similarly painful lesson from the upheavals in the power generation sector.