PARIS – The European Commission’s tactic to section out combustion engines in favor of electrical motor vehicles is a political choice that carries environmental and social dangers, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares explained in an interview with European newspapers.
Due to the fact merging Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot to develop the world’s No. 4 carmaker by creation, Tavares has mapped out a 30 billion euro ($34 billion) electrification strategy that served Stellantis shares surge more than 60% in their to start with 12 months.
“What is very clear is that electrification is a technologies picked by politicians, not by sector,” he said in a joint interview with France’s Les Echos, Handelsblatt, Corriere della Sera and El Mundo.
He additional there ended up less costly and a lot quicker techniques of minimizing carbon emissions.
“Presented the present-day European power mix, an electric powered vehicle wants to push 70,000 kilometers to compensate for the carbon footprint of manufacturing the battery and to start out catching up with a light-weight hybrid motor vehicle, which expenditures half as a great deal as an EV (electric powered automobile),” he claimed.
He also mentioned a ban on thermal vehicles by 2035 in Europe indicates carmakers need to commence transforming their plants and provide chains rapidly.
“The brutality of this transform produces social risk,” he explained.
In a in depth interview which touched on the numerous troubles Stellantis is facing, Tavares also nuanced his guarantee not to shut down vegetation in Europe.
“I frequently maintain on to the promises I make, but we also require to continue to be competitive,” he said, citing in distinct production charges in Italy which were being “substantially higher, sometimes the double of all those at crops in other European nations,” predominantly because of to “exorbitant” electrical power rates.
Pointing to Rome, where the governing administration is performing to provide down industrial charges, he mentioned: “It can take some time for the actions to be applied. We will explore this again at the close of 2022.”
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(Reporting by GV De Clercq and Tassilo Hummel Editing by Mark Potter)