Studies

Insufficient progress in improving the climate footprint of mobility is one of the reasons why Germany is struggling to meet its climate targets for 2030 and why there is little prospect for climate neutrality by 2045. Since the shift of road traffic to rail is slower and more complex than desirable, more climate protection in road transport is the focus of attention. It accounts for 97 percent of domestic mobility. Comprehensive and vigorous electrification is seen as the exclusive silver bullet for decarbonizing road transport.

In recent years, battery e-mobility has developed into a growth story in which there are parallels to the introduction of personal computers and smartphones.  This ramp-up is taking place primarily in China, the USA and Europe, especially in France, the Benelux countries, Great Britain and Scandinavia. In Germany, electric car sales fell significantly in 2024. A look at the entire world shows that in important countries, battery e-mobility is not seen as the only climate neutral technology of the future. Brazil continues to rely on domestic bioethanol, and in Japan as well as in South Korea, in addition to the expansion of battery e-mobility, the development of fuel cells plays a significant role.

Battery e-mobility has so far been a success story in the passenger car sector, less so in the truck sector. In heavy-duty long distance freight transport, the development and range of alternative drive technologies are more open than in other areas of road mobility. Furthermore, the climate impact of the existing motor vehicles fleet equipped with combustion engines is underestimated. It is unlikely to be replaced by electric cars in the coming years as quickly as originally thought. There is a need for more options for replacing gasoline and diesel.

There is no alternative to expanding e-mobility, but the complete electrification of road transport is unlikely. Climate neutrality means the foreseeable end of fossil fuels. Gasoline and diesel have no future. Therefore, in addition to e-mobility, further climate-neutral technologies are needed, such as renewable fuels (ReFuels). The European and national framework conditions, which have so far been geared towards favoring e-mobility, must be adjusted to equal treatment of e-mobility and ReFuels. They must have incentives for investors that are equivalent to that in favor of e-mobility.