Carmakers said to plan charging network / Housing climate outrage
Bild
Carmakers including VW, BMW and Daimler plan to set up a nationwide fast charging network for electric cars, according to an unsourced report in Bild. The mass daily reports talks between the carmakers and petrol station operator Tank+Rast, aimed at setting up a network of stations capable of fully charging electric vehicles within 30 minutes on Germany’s motorways by 2018.
Sales of e-cars have been very sluggish in Germany, despite a buyers’ premium introduced earlier this year. Many experts consider the lack of charging stations a major obstacle to e-mobility’s success.
Read the report in German here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The housing industry has criticised the federal government’s Climate Action Plan 2050, because of last-minute changes at the expense of the sector, writes Henrike Roßbach for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). After economy minister Sigmar Gabriel vetoed a previous version of the plan, the industrial sector’s emission reduction target was lowered, and the target for the building sector raised. “We are asking you to reconsider this decision and not damage the working relationship with the real estate industry in the long term,” writes the National Working Group of the Real Estate Industry (BID) in a letter to environment minister Barbara Hendricks, seen by FAZ.
See the CLEW factsheets Germany’s Climate Action Plan 2050 and Reactions to Germany's Climate Action Plan 2050, and the CLEW article Germany finally sets specific CO₂ targets in climate roadmap for more.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The fate of utilities RWE and E.ON is still unclear after each split their business, writes Helmut Bünder in an opinion piece for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. How they will fare in the future depends in part on German energy policy decisions and market regulation. When E.ON announced its decision to split it was rated at almost 30 billion euros, yet today E.ON and its spin-off Uniper together are worth only around half that, Bünder writes, adding that “optimism at competitor RWE after the successful stock market debut of subsidiary innogy has also evaporated.” Investors were sobered by a disappointing profit forecast, Bünder says.
For background, read the CLEW factsheets RWE’s plans for new renewable subsidiary and E.ON shareholders ratify energy giant's split.
Welt
Germany is lagging behind other European countries in sales of e-cars, Welt reports. According to a survey by the CAR-Center for Automotive Research at Duisburg University cited by the paper, e-cars and plug-in hybrids had a market share of 0.7 percent from January to September in Germany, compared to an EU average of 0.9 percent. The share is higher in France and Great Britain at 1.4 percent each, Austria (1.5 percent), the Netherlands and Sweden (both 3.5 percent), and Norway (28.8 percent). Denmark (0.6 percent), Lithuania and Spain (both 0.3 percent) and Italy (0.1 percent) have an even lower share.
Read the report in German here.
Reuters/Süddeutsche Zeitung
BMW wants to boost e-car sales by two-thirds next year to 100,000 vehicles, according to a Reuters report based on a Süddeutsche Zeitung interview with BMW CEO Harald Krüger. The luxury automaker is offering more battery-powered models and expects to increase deliveries of fully electric and hybrid vehicles to around 60,000 units this year, Krüger said.
Read the report in English here.
For background, read the CLEW factsheet Early e-car starter BMW plans new mobility sprint.
Handelsblatt
According to business consultancy PwC, there are around 100 "virtual power plants" in Germany, which usually pool different kinds of renewable energy projects, Steffen Ermisch reports in Handelsblatt. 37 of them participate in the market for balancing power, thereby stabilising the grid, and 26 sell power on the wholesale market. PwC believes the business model still offers much potential for growth. “Virtual power stations promise flexibility that is increasingly in demand as conventional power stations go offline and the roll-out of renewables continues,” PwC energy expert Joachim Albersmann told the paper.
Read the article in German here.
