Apparently, i’s a matter of pride for Germany to excel in the production and usage of electric vehicles. According to Chancellor Angela Merkel, it would be very good for the country to become “the market leader and leading provider” for electric cars, since i’s the place “where the first motor car was built,” statement reported on the 15th of May by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
With this idea in mind, the cabinet announced during the previous weekend that the goal is to have no less than 1 million electric cars hitting the German roads by 2020.
As the Chancellor sees the issue, the only 2 roadblocks hindering this achievement are the lack of an infrastructure and the batteries themselves, which disappoint by their short life. The Germans don’t get scared that easily, though. The cabinet plans on tackling the problems on 2 fronts: by accessing substantial funding and by having the Automobile Federation focus on electric cars.
First, they are to discuss the budget just this week and they don’t want to drag the talks for very long. The National Electro-mobility Platform commission will lay out a demand for several billion Euros, although a more exact sum is yet unknown. The money is needed to finance already existing projects on EVs that cannot survive without adequate funding. Besides taking into account a possible tax relief to EV owners, the government is thinking about building them fast lanes and priority parking.
Secondly, the other “offensive” involves this year’s edition of the Frankfurt international car show (15-25 September). Electric vehicles are set to steal the spotlight at the event, in an attempt to encourage buyers to purchase or at least consider the prospect of having one in their garage. Along this line of thought, BMW has officially changed its mind about the launching of its first all-electric car in 2015 – i’s now going to be 2 years earlier, about the same time as Volkswagen. Meanwhile, Daimler plans to present its electric version of the mini “smart” car and of its Mercedes A Class as early as this year.
In the end, i’s not really about pride as it is about cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the foreign oil imports. Either way, Germany will not go wrong about this.
[via Physorg]
