Carl Martin Welcker, President of the German Mechanical Engineering Association, considers the promotion of electromobility to be a disaster. “There is still no real business model for electric cars without the purchasing aids of the states,” Welcker told the Tagesspiegel (Monday edition). “The way we do it is a disaster and very expensive for taxpayers.”
In the country, the electric car makes no sense and in the city there are no electricity grids or charging options. “In view of the current electricity mix, the environmental costs in battery production and the mobility behavior of Germans, the electric car makes no contribution to climate protection,” said Welcker.
He therefore advocated a higher CO2 price. “If we really want to protect the climate, we have to find a CO2 price that increases slowly but surely and thus has a steering effect,” the VDMA president told Tagesspiegel. “Then we could save ourselves all the small stuff with sector specifications, purchase premiums for cars or the subsidy of charging stations.”
“We have a chance with hydrogen”
Welcker sees a broader perspective in the broad application of hydrogen. “If we want to have a chance to remain the technological leader in mobility in the long term, then we can do it with hydrogen rather than with the battery.” The Asian manufacturers are very far away in battery production. “With hydrogen, we have the opportunity to redefine the energy storage of the future,” said Welcker.
The mechanical engineer was reasonably optimistic about the further economic trend. “All in all, we hope to see the first seedlings sprout on the order side in the first quarter of 2021, but on the sales side it will take until the second half of 2021.” In mechanical engineering, face a losing streak “well into the next year”. It is impossible to quantify how many jobs in the 1.3 million employee sector are at risk. But “the companies will do everything to keep their skilled workers,” the association president told Tagesspiegel.
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