After far more than 100 years of developments in the internal combustion engine, electromobility heralds the dawn of a new technological era in road transport. The electrification of drives is crucial to the future of mobility. It affords the opportunity to lessen dependence on oil, minimise emissions and facilitate the integration of vehicles into a multimodal transport system.

Even though the internal combustion engine will remain important for transport in the foreseeable future and we need to keep additional efficiency improvements and biogenic fuel use on the transport policy agenda, we must begin today to make the necessary gradual transition to new efficient technologies. To keep up with international competition, Germany must become the lead market in electromobility and maintain the leading role of its scientific capabilities and its motor-vehicle manufacturing and parts supply industry.

The aim of the National Electromobility Development Plan is to speed up research and development in battery electric vehicles and their market preparation and introduction in Germany. The measures adopted in the German Federal Government’s Economic Stimulus Package II will act as catalysts. They must be continued over time and respond to technological progress.

The essential technologies for electric drives, energy storage and grid infrastructure have already been developed. There is, however, still need for research, improvement and networking at many points in the supply chain. Greater efforts must above all be made in the key technology of storage batteries to maintain and strengthen the global competitiveness of the German motor-vehicle industry.

In the short term, we can begin the shift towards electromobility through demonstration projects and field tests. The first plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles can reach market maturity in a few years. The battery charging infrastructure will have to be built up gradually, starting at local or regional level. For broad market introduction, the cost structures of the vehicles need to be improved along with their suitability for everyday use. Due to the technological and economic challenges we still face today, it will probably take more than a decade for electric vehicles to glean a significant market share. The German Federal Government is looking to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2020.

With its National Electromobility Development Plan, Germany has laid out a sound and broad starting grid. To travel faster on the road to the future, government, but especially industry, will have to step up their efforts. The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) have only recently begun to shoulder responsibility here. To prepare the way for a broad introduction of electric vehicles in the coming years we shall need to take a number of policy, regulatory, technical and infrastructure measures. Open European standards will need to be set, for example, to ensure interoperability, safety and acceptance at a high global level. The German Federal Government will make its contribution in the next 10 years under the National Electromobility Development Plan. Besides regulatory measures to support progress in battery technology, grid integration as well as market preparation and introduction, consideration will be given to a market incentives programme and the best way of implementing it. Any further government activities will be subject to budget appropriations and policy decisions in the next legislature. Ultimately, electric vehicles will only come into general use if total costs, including infrastructure, reach the point where no permanent subsidies are required in competition.

From the outset, then, the implementation of the National Electromobility Development Plan will require close consultation among all stakeholders. To do this, we need to set up a National Electromobility Platform made up of policymakers, industrialists and scientists, local government officials and consumers and able to appoint working groups for specific tasks.

Electromobility is another step by the German Federal Government in its strategy of lessening dependence on oil. In combination with renewable energies, it will make an important contribution to implementing government climate protection goals, as already set out in the Integrated Energy and Climate Programme (IECP).

Electromobility is also important for the Federal Government’s Fuel Strategy and High-Tech Strategy (HTS). It can also help pave the way towards a new culture of mobility and modern urban and regional development planning.
Electromobility means a paradigm shift for the transport and energy sector. Today, we can map out the best route towards future mobility, negotiate the questions and challenges and head for our destination on a journey of ongoing development.

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