The Association of the German Automotive Industry (VDA) calls for an end to the theoretical debates about climate targets and instead commitment to the implementation of the strategies that have been decided so far.

“The focus is now on the infrastructure and the framework conditions.

These are the decisive factors so that the industry can implement the committed goals," said association president Hildegard Müller on Wednesday in Berlin.

With record spending on research and development, the industry is showing its determination to quickly implement the transformation towards sustainable drives.

Tobias Piller

Editor in Business.

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Manufacturers and suppliers are planning investments of more than 220 billion euros in electromobility, battery technology and digitization for the period up to 2026.

This does not include the conversion of factories.

"These investments are an expression of our will to achieve climate neutrality as quickly as possible," said Müller.

There are currently 100 electric models from German manufacturers, meaning passenger cars with battery-electric drives and plug-in hybrids.

Every second electric car in Europe currently comes from Germany.

From the perspective of the automotive industry, there is no lack of dynamics in the development and production of new technology and models, but rather an infrastructure of charging points, green electricity and the political framework for the supply of semiconductors and raw materials.

According to the VDA, there are currently 52,200 charging points for around 1.19 million cars with electric drives - of which around 665,000 cars have battery-electric drives and just over half a million plug-in hybrids.

This results in a ratio of 22.8 electric cars per charging point.

At the current rate of expansion, Germany will reach the 160,000 charging point mark by 2030 and not the promised 1 million.

On the other hand, if the target set by the new government of 15 million electric cars by 2030 is achieved, then there would be 29 electric cars per charging point.

From the point of view of the VDA President, this could create hurdles for the restructuring of the economy: "The same must apply to the transformation as to the automobiles themselves. It must work perfectly, there must be no unforeseeable risks." The framework of infrastructure and framework conditions , under the responsibility of the state, is currently not yet sustainable enough for a transformation of the desired extent.

Conclude international framework agreements

"We need a stable, modern and extremely resilient framework and we need it now," said Müller.

Otherwise, the conversion of the economic motor of the automotive industry to electric drive will not work, and after all, every tenth job in Germany depends on it.

In the event of further delays, the VDA fears that consumer confidence in the new technology could tip over.

There are also dangers for the strategy of turning the conversion of the German car industry into climate neutrality into an international success model.

Müller called for a "loading summit" with gas station operators, the housing industry, the logistics industry and network operators as soon as possible.

At the same time, the installation of powerful charging points for commercial vehicles must also be planned for when expanding the network.

The promotion of private "wall boxes" for charging must continue, said Müller.

Low point of the semiconductor crisis overcome

According to the VDA, the transformation of the automotive industry also requires a strategic industrial policy for the supply of semiconductors and batteries, as well as the supply of sustainable electricity.

"It is not possible to generate enough climate-neutral energy nationally," the VDA President is convinced.

It is therefore important for Germany to conclude international framework agreements for the supply of green energy and raw materials before other countries share these sources among themselves.

The VDA described the prospects for 2022 as still cautious.

Although the order backlog for German car manufacturers is higher than it has been for 30 years, there is still a lack of semiconductors for the corresponding production.

The bottlenecks could last until 2023, said the chief economist of the VDA, Manuel Kallweit.

However, the low point of the semiconductor crisis was already overcome in the third quarter of 2021.

For 2022, 2.8 million new registrations are expected in Germany, up 7 percent compared to 2021. This could include around 750,000 cars with electric drives.

Car production in Germany could increase by 13 percent to 3.5 million.

It would be back to where it was in 2020 or 1980, a far cry from the more than 5.6 million between 2014 and 2017.