Only e-cars? New VW boss puts the brakes on Stromern
At Volkswagen, all signs are pointing to e-cars – actually. Herbert Diess is one of the driving forces in the group and the man who always gave preference to purely electric cars. His successor, Porsche boss Oliver Blume, strikes a different note.
VW boss Oliver Blume: E-fuels are not off the table
A change of times is imminent at Volkswagen. After around four years at the helm of the group, Herbert Diess is leaving on September 1st. His successor is Oliver Blume, who has been CEO of Porsche since 2015. Both have in their respective brands, Diess also in the entire group, the Development of the electric car with promoted – and yet the views differ. Under Blume, VW could strike very different notes about electric cars than before.
Because the designated VW boss sees a completely different potential in so-called e-fuels than his predecessor. A few days before Blume takes over the wheel at VW, he spoke to Automobilwoche in an interview for the synthetic fuels (via mirror). He argues that the climate goals of the Paris Agreement cannot be achieved with electric mobility alone.
With man-made ones Combustion engines such as petrol and diesel can continue to be operated with e-fuels, but emit less climate-damaging exhaust gases than when they run on classic fuels. The problem: In contrast to battery-electric e-cars, there are still exhaust gases, albeit less.
Critics also accuse e-fuels of production requires a lot of electricity, they are therefore inefficient and so far the necessary quantities could not be produced. The ousted VW boss Diess is one of these critics and during his time aligned the group to BEVs.
Blume, on the other hand, sees them artificial fuels as a valuable supplement. There will be combustion engines in the vehicle fleet for decades to come, which can be operated in a more climate-friendly manner.
Even with e-fuels, an electric car is the better choice:
That’s why VW will continue to rely on electric cars
The next few weeks and months will have to show how VW will continue with electric cars, once Blume has taken over the executive chair. However, a real turnaround at VW is hardly to be expected. After all, the group is having great success with its e-cars. Whether it’s the ID range at VW, Skoda’s Enyaq iV or the Porsche Taycan, they all show that Customers and manufacturers do not rely on e-cars without reason – Blume, as the head of Porsche, should know that.
