Industry of tomorrow

Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development Dr Peter Ramsauer spotlights Germany's focus on an emerging technology – electric mobility

Mobility is a fundamental need of our societies. We use our cars to drive to work, to go to the gym, to take our children to school or to go on holiday. Freight has to be moved so that our economy can function. A high degree of mobility is a hallmark of developed societies. Thus, as development in many countries progresses, mobility desires and needs also rise. At the same time, however, the reserves of fossil fuels are finite. Thus, greater energy efficiency and a changeover to renewable energy are the order of the day.

For this reason, we have decided in Germany to massively expand the use of renewable energy and to greatly increase its contribution to the national supply of electricity. At the same time, we have set ourselves the target, in our energy strategy, of reducing primary energy consumption by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050.

The transport sector must make a significant contribution towards achieving this important objective, which affects the whole of society. For this reason, it is imperative that the energy efficiency of internal combustion engines be improved even further. And I have no doubt that a lot can still be achieved here. The internal combustion engine is not going to be phased out for many years.

However, we have to think beyond this and progress the development of new technologies – in the transport sector, this means primarily alternative drive trains and fuels. Here, not only environmental and energy issues play a role. We are also convinced that the development of 'emerging technologies' is of the utmost importance in terms of industry policy. The only economies that will be successful in the global economy in the long term are those that lead the way in these fields, too. This is especially true of electric mobility, be it with batteries or fuel cells.

German companies have already done a lot of development work in this field. We want to continue and intensify this approach. We have resolved to make our country a lead market for electric mobility. Our aim is for there to be one million electric vehicles operating on our roads as early as 2020. We have been working towards the commercial maturity of the aforementioned technologies for a long time, and have provided billions of euros to fund their development. In doing so, we remain committed to the principle of not favouring a specific technology – because none of us can know today which technologies will be successful in tomorrow's market.

At the beginning of last year, the Federal Government Joint Unit for Electric Mobility started work. In this unit – which is headed by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development – the four government departments responsible for electric mobility (transport, economics, environment and research) work together. The Electric Mobility Summit, which was held in Berlin on 3rd May 2010, marked a milestone. At this summit, the National Platform for Electromobility (NPE) was established in which all the relevant stakeholders from government, industry, academia and society cooperate. Seven high-level working groups of the NPE discussed the major issues relating to electric mobility. In May of this year, the NPE working groups presented the results of their work, which contained proposals for further development activities and for the fleshing out of 'showcase' and 'lighthouse' projects.

Following these proposals, the federal government published its Electric Mobility Programme on 18th May 2011. Over the period of this parliamentary term, which ends in 2013, we want to provide in the federal budget a total of €1bn for work on this issue, over and above the ongoing funding. In addition, we want to support the introduction of the technology by means of regulatory and fiscal measures.

However, we do not believe that the approach adopted by other countries of providing subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles is correct. Such aids are all too easily factored in and thus go up in smoke. In the final analysis, the incentive to develop competitive products in this segment should be preserved. It is imperative that we avoid a subsidy race in this field in Europe.

We will also act on the suggestion made by the NPE to establish 'showcase' projects. In these projects, further trials are to be conducted, covering larger areas than in the past, to investigate the suitability of electric vehicles for everyday use. At the same time, we will make the issue visible, thereby ingraining it in the minds of the public. These projects will follow on from an approach that the Federal Ministry of Transport is already pursuing in the 'Electric Mobility in Pilot Regions' programme. This approach involves researching possible applications in private, public and freight transport, for cars, two-wheeled vehicles and commercial vehicles. In addition, we have supported the establishment of a battery test centre and hydrogen infrastructure.

The National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme was launched back in 2006. The funding required for this was €1.4bn, with the federal government and industry each providing one half of this total. What we want to do is prove that hydrogen can already be used safely by normal road users. It will now be important to reduce vehicle costs and start manufacturing vehicles in small production runs.