During the presentation of his half-yearly results, BMW Group’s CEO made a point of mentioning synthetic fuels (e-fuels). In his opinion, they represent a common-sense solution that would immediately decarbonise the European car fleet.
Oliver Zipse has no intention of slowing down on electric solutions. And during his presentation, he pointed out that the group has consistently exceeded EU CO2 requirements for years. According to him, the most effective contributions to climate protection are those that we can make today.
Accordingly, the BMW Group’s CEO has launched an appeal to demand and promote the use of low-CO2 fuels such as e-fuels, E 25 or HVO 100, as quickly and as much as possible. “These fuels could immediately improve the carbon footprint of the existing fleet of more than 250 million vehicles in the European Union,” stresses Mr Zispe.
E-fuels at risk of being ‘politically instrumentalised’
However, he sees “a major risk of e-fuels being used as a political tool in the debate on banning combustion engines from 2035.” Moreover, “there are currently many indications that the European Commission is trying to find a deceptive solution whereby the ban on combustion engines would be relaxed simply by ostensibly opening up to e-fuels.”
The authorities in Brussels are therefore being singled out. If nothing is done to accelerate the uptake of low-CO2 fuels and make their use possible, “this would amount to a deliberate ban on combustion engines by the back door.” “We keep believing that an outright ban on combustion technology is a mistake. We are also publicly committed to our high-efficiency engines,” concludes Oliver Zipse.
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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King
