For Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume, “we have to think about what will happen to thermal cars”, referring to the track of synthetic fuels to reduce CO2 emissions.
While several countries, including Germany, are leading a revolt against the end of the heat engine in 2035, Volkswagen announced on Tuesday colossal investments in the electric and connected car. Despite this envelope raised to 122 billion euros over the next five years, the leading European automotive group aligns itself with a discourse that meets with a certain echo across the Rhine: clearly, yes to electricity, but yes also to fuels of synthesis to facilitate this transition.
“The development of electric and synthetic fuels are not contradictory, this can be seen in our figures and in those of Porsche”, underlined the boss of Volkswagen Oliver Blume during the presentation of this new investment plan.
Thermal cars “will be running for decades to come”
For him, these fuels under development remain an interesting avenue for decarbonising the existing vehicle fleet, in Europe and around the world:
“Our commitment is clear, we want to develop electric mobility as much as possible, it is the mobility of the future. But if you look at car production as a whole, (…) you have to think about what will happen for thermal cars: there are more than 1.4 billion of these cars on the road today and this figure will continue to increase. These cars will be on the road for decades to come”, recalls Oliver Blume.
In this context, “synthetic fuels offer a suitable alternative to reduce CO2 emissions rapidly”, said Oliver Blume.
In 2022, Volkswagen sold 4.56 million vehicles worldwide, a figure down 6.8% from 2021 and its lowest level in 11 years. And if its deliveries of electric vehicles increased by 23.6%, they represent only 7% of its global sales.
