Carlos Tavares has once again spoken about the transition of the automotive market to zero-emission vehicles. According to the Stellantis CEO, the European Union’s approach to electric cars has been too dogmatic, as a zero-emission solution that not everyone can afford is not the right solution to this problem. Until electric cars are affordable for everyone, only a small portion of people will be able to buy them and the global emissions situation will not change.
Stellantis’ Carlos Tavares believes that e-fuels could be the solution, rather than electric cars
Carlos Tavares pointed out that there are currently over 1.3 billion combustion engine cars around the world and until these cars are on the roads, nothing will change. The only solution might be to spread e-fuels so that these cars can pollute less than they do now.
“Do you think the European Union will decide to ban the use of ICE vehicles in Morocco, Angola, Mozambique, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela? Is European Union going to take a position on this? That’s why we’re facing a big challenge today: how to address the issue of the 1.3 billion cars currently on the road?” said Carlos Tavares.
The Portuguese manager confirmed that Stellantis will nevertheless comply with the European Union’s decisions, even if they do not solve the problems. “E-fuels could be a valid solution to address the problem of the 1.3 billion combustion engine vehicles currently on the road. However, for this solution to be effective, these fuels need to have near-zero or even zero emissions,” Tavares added.
“Currently, the emissions of these fuels are reduced by 70-80%, but they need to be even lower to be truly sustainable. They also need to be affordable at a price that most people can afford, which is not yet the case. We support the development of eco-fuels and have already publicly stated that all of our internal combustion engines are compatible with such fuels. We have also carried out tests to validate the durability of our engines using E-Fuels,” concluded the Stellantis CEO.