Germany To Spend Billions Supporting Electric Car Expansion

Smart Fortwo Electric Drive and Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive at driving school.

Among European nations, Germany is one of the least active when it comes to policies promoting electric cars.

Even as the country's powerful auto industry has turned more attention to plug-in cars, government support for them has been largely limited to political speeches.

But now German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel apparently wants to put the government's money where its mouth is.

Gabriel wants to commit 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion) to programs that incentivize electric cars, according to a report in the German newspaper Die Zeit translated by Reuters.

Some of the money would reportedly go to subsidies for the purchase of new electric cars, but no other details were given.

The proposal also calls for expanding the number of public charging stations in Germany, and encouraging government offices to use more electric cars.

2016 BMW i3

Germany currently has 2,400 operational AC charging sites, and around 100 DC fast-charging sites. This will be funded under the current German budget without tax increases Gabriel said. Electric-car incentives have been discussed in Germany before, but so far those discussions haven't translated into much tangible action.

In late 2014, Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed adding tax incentives and cash rebates like those available in other countries, as a way to boost electric-car sales. That same year, legislation was introduced to give electric-car drivers free parking and access to bus lanes. All of these measures have been intended to help Germany meet a goal of putting 1 million plug-in cars on its roads by 2020.

Porsche Mission E concept electric car

To do that, sales will have expand far beyond the roughly 20,000 units recorded in 2014.

Calls for greater emphasis on electric cars intensified with the eruption of the Volkswagen diesel scandal last year. Gabriel--the Economy Minister--and Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks both called for an electric-car quota.

If nothing else, the German car industry--particularly the now-humbled Volkswagen Group--is starting to plan more battery-electric models. Audi will launch and all-electric SUV in 2018, and Porsche has promised to put the Mission E electric-car concept first shown at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show into production before the end of the decade.

VW has said it will build an all-electric version of its Phaeton luxury sedan, and is developing a new platform for compact electric cars.

400 Hydrogen Fueling Stations Across Germany By 2023

Last week’s story about a hydrogen fuel cell powered bicycle from Linde Group generated lots of discussion, so this story should interest lots of our readers. Even though European car makers are focusing on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, that doesn’t mean that research into fuel cell cars is not moving forward as well. In particular, BMW is exploring hydrogen power for its future cars and Mercedes is doing so as well.

Now 6 European companies have announced a consortium that will build 400 hydrogen refueling stations across Germany by 2023. The group consists of Air Liquide, Linde, Daimler, OMV, Shell and Total. The  cross-sector joint venture will be known as H2 MOBILITY Deutschland. according to ElectricCar Reports. It is based in Berlin and is already working hard on Stage One of the plan — the construction of 100 filling stations over the next few years.

Executives from H2 MOBILITY met with Germany’s minister of transportation, Alexander Dobrindt, last week to discuss the plan, which would make Germany the first country to offer a complete hydrogen refueling network. A total investment of around $500 million is anticipated. H2 MOBILITY is an international leader and has the potential to influence other countries to expand their hydrogen infrastructure. It is a member of the recently formed “Hydrogen Mobility Europe” network.

Germany wants to be a world leader in sustainable mobility solutions and efficient technology. It believes electric mobility via fuel cell powered vehicles will help to cut CO2 emissions significantly. H2 Mobility is working closely with car manufacturers BMW, Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota, as well as the technology company Intelligent Energy.

Hydrogen as a fuel source is controversial. Unless new technologies become available, it takes more energy to make commercial grade hydrogen than the hydrogen produced will be able to give back when used as a fuel source. Proponents argue that abundant solar energy will solve that problem, because there will soon be an excess of virtually free electric power from renewable sources. Skeptics argue that the world’s energy needs are a long way from being met by solar power and that it is more efficient to use what there is to recharge battery electric cars rather than to make hydrogen.

The chances are we won’t know who is right until at least a decade from now.

Germany Will Offer EV Buyers Free Parking

Though the German auto industry has been fairly quick to embrace plug-in hybrid and electric cars, incentives from the government have been few and far between. Bloomberg reports that a new bill in the German parliament will change that by allowing EV's, hydrogen, and certain plug-in hybrid car drivers access to free parking and bus-only lanes lanes.

By the end of this year, 17 different plug-in cars will be available from German automakers, but the country still doesn’t offer any direct financial aid to buyers. Instead it offers tax breaks for use of plug-in company cars (which are treated as taxable income in Germany) and has provided funding to battery technology research. Unfortunately this hasn’t translated successfully into higher EV sales, and the goal to put 1 million plug-in cars on German streets by 2020 is off to a slow start.

Let me put this in perspective for a minute. Buyers in Norway took delivery of 1,497 plug-in cars in July of 2014, compared with just 1,057 plug-in cars in Germany. Yet in 2013 there were over 2,952,000 new car registrations in Germany, while Norway saw a little over 142,000 new car sales, 5% of what was one of the worst years for car sales in Europe. Through August, German EV sales outpaced Norway by a mere 9 vehicles. Giving EV buyers access to bus lanes and free parking is a nice perk, sure, but Norway has seen greater success by discounting the heavy-handed taxes it levies in combustion engines.

Germany is the heart of European car production, and if it really wants to lead the Old World in EV adoption, it’ll have try harder than sacrificing a few euros from street parking.

Source: EVObsession

Germany could have a million plug-in vehicles by 2020

Germany may only have a quarter the population of the US, but that won't stop the country from being on America's heels when it comes to electric-drive vehicle adoption.

The country's Germany Trade & Invest publication, citing a Horvath & Partners study, estimates that there will be about a million plug-in vehicles on Germany's roads by the end of the decade, five short years after President Obama has said the US plug-in vehicle count will hit that threshold. There's a good chance the US will not hit that target, but we'll see.

Germany will have about 150,000 publicly accessible charging stations by 2020. Such stations will be a boon for drivers of cars like the BMW i3 plug-in vehicle and the plug-in hybrid versions of the Volkswagen Golf and Passat, which are among the models that will debut during the next couple of years. For a general comparison, the US has about 5,200 publicly accessible charging stations today.

Germany's plug-in adoption will be a major topic of conversation at the Advanced Automotive Batteries Conference in Pasadena, CA, next week. Check out the press release below.



Source: Autoblog Green

General Motors, Magna and Germany Agree To Deal That Saves Opel

It took last minute heroics and lots of euros, but now Opel will escape the bankruptcy certainly facing GM. Magna is a Canadian auto parts group with big plans for Opel, including a sales push into Russia. The deal includes a bridge loan of up to $1.5 billion euros which comes courtesy of the German government. The contract will take up to five weeks before being formalized.

From Automotive News:

Germany reached a landmark deal with Canadian auto-parts group Magna, General Motors and governments to save Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its U.S. parent, German leaders said on Saturday.

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told journalists waiting outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's offices for the six-hour meeting that a comprehensive accord had been forged.

"I can tell you that a deal has been reached," Steinbrueck said shortly after 2 a.m. He added that the agreement included bridge financing for Opel worth 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) and a trustee model for the German carmaker.

Siegfried Wolf, co-CEO of Magna International Inc., cautioned there were still details to be ironed out.

"In five weeks' time we should have the formal signing of the contract," he said.

Hesse state premier Roland Koch said, for example, the state assemblies in both Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia -- two of four states with Opel plants -- would still have to endorse it. He said he hoped that could be completed by Sunday.

Leaders of all four states have endorsed the deal.

Steinbrueck said U.S. Treasury representatives at the meeting had also backed the agreement.

Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg renewed his reservations about risks involved with the rescue but added there would also have been risks if Opel declared bankruptcy.

Seeking support

Magna and Opel had presented their plan to senior German officials and representatives of the U.S. Treasury to win their support and ensure the release of the financing that Opel desperately needs to survive over the coming months.

An agreement between GM and Magna is a first step toward securing the future of Russelsheim-based Opel, which has been under GM's control for the past 80 years and traces its roots in Germany back to the 19th century.

"I think this is the start of a new future for Opel, for the workers, the company and the brand," GM Europe head Carl-Peter Forster told journalists. He added, however, that there would still be some hard negotiations on the fine print ahead.

The German government has been scrambling to safeguard Opel's future before GM files for bankruptcy, a step which is expected to come by Monday.

A first round of talks in Berlin collapsed amid mutual recriminations on Thursday morning, prompting the German government to set a new round of negotiations for Friday.

Italian carmaker Fiat S.p.A., Magna's main rival in the battle for Opel, pulled out of talks, leaving the door open for Magna, North America’s largest supplier. It was started by Austrian emigre Frank Stronach in a Toronto garage nearly half a century ago.

Magna plans to use Opel to push into Russia, Europe's fastest-growing car market before the economic crisis hit.

The company, which has 70,000 employees in 25 countries, supplies components and systems to many of the world's leading carmakers, including fuel tanks and radiator grilles for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and fuel filters for the BMW X3.

Fiat: Life goes on

Speaking to reporters in Montreal, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne had earlier appeared to concede defeat to Magna, saying his focus was on the company's deal with Chrysler.

"If the Opel transaction is not available to Fiat, life will move on," he said.

A stumbling block had been U.S. Treasury opposition to German demands that Opel assets be temporarily placed in a trust to protect them from GM creditors. Germany now will release the bridge financing to tide Opel over until a merger is completed.

Opel employs 25,000 staff in four German plants.

It is part of a GM Europe operation that employs more than 50,000, with car manufacturing plants in Spain, Poland, Belgium and Britain, where Opel cars are sold under the Vauxhall brand, as well as engine and parts sites such as Aspern near Vienna.

Like its parent GM, Opel has suffered acutely from the worldwide economic slowdown. Its fate is being followed closely in Germany, where the auto industry remains a potent symbol of the country's postwar recovery and export-driven economy.

Merkel faces an election in September and was keen to ensure a deal that would avert large job losses.