Daimler aims for share of 50 percent e-cars in sales by 2030
Clean Energy Wire
The world’s oldest carmaker Daimler has said it aims to bring the share of e-cars in its sales to 50 percent by 2030 and to achieve a “carbon-neutral passenger car fleet” by 2039. Plug-in hybrids or all-electric cars will make up half of its fleet at the end of the next decade, the company said in a press release on its so-called “Ambition 2039,” in which it also announced “CO2-neutral production in Europe as of 2022” as well as an “agreement on concrete CO2 measures with suppliers and joint design of infrastructure.” Daimler’s CEO-designate Ola Källenius said the move would mean no less than “a fundamental transformation of our company within less than three product cycles. That’s not much time when you consider that fossil fuels have dominated our business since the invention of the car by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler some 130 years ago.” However, technological change had always been at the heart of Daimler’s business and addressing the company’s carbon footprint would be a duty towards its customers, Källenius said. The company would also work on electrifying its van, truck and bus models, he said, adding that while batteries currently were in Daimler’s focus, the company continued to explore other clean propulsion systems like fuel cells.
The announcement by Daimler falls in line with similar plans by other German carmakers to substantially ramp up the share of e-cars in their portfolio as stubbornly high transport sector emissions increasingly shift into the focus of climate action advocates. The success of US competitor Tesla is likely to have had an impact on the speed of decision making in German company boards. The new Model 3 by Tesla overtook German car industry heavyweights Daimler and BMW in European e-car sales in the first month after the model’s launch on the continent in April.
