autoregion international 2/2020 - Greater Region Mobility Innovation

20 Every new vehicle built today is a customer tomorrow Article from Stefan Beinkämpen, Member of the Board of Management Baumot Group AG Uncertainty among car manufacturers and suppliers has never been greater. At the beginning of the EU Pres- idency, the Chancellor proclaims: “Climate remains on the agenda”. At the same time, the German government is denying automakers “restart bonuses” for a restart after the Corona Lockdown. Vehicle manufacturers are switching their entire development and production to elec- tric-powered vehicles in order to achieve a market share of only 15 percent in 2030. By 2030, the federal government sees 7 to 10 million electric vehicles on the market, accord- ing to the 2030 climate protection program. How to close the huge gap to the current quantities of internal combustion engines is completely unclear. Consumer uncertainty has also increased, new investments in vehicles being significantly de- ferred. According to the federal motor vehicle office (KBA), the number of new registrations has fallen sharply and as a result the holding time of the existing vehicles is significant increased. This ensures that internal combustion engines will continue to be sold and continued to be used in the coming years. At the same time, however, the development activities for inter- nal combustion engines are stopped, this also means: no further innovations, level of devel- opment frozen at EURO6, no improvement in emissions, continued uncertainty about driv- ing bans at low emission zones. At the same time, the Federal Government is launched a funding programme “National Hydrogen Strategy” for green hydrogen. 300 million euros available for this from the Cli- mate Fund until 2023. Conclusion:  Petrol and diesel vehicles are sold.  Electric vehicles are being developed.  Hydrogen solutions are state funded. Less concrete for the important automotive industry, even less for consumers. In order to increase the buying mood of car buyers, two important questions arise for the future of the automotive industry: I. How will the consumer be able to ensure in the future that vehicles can be operated in a climate-friendly and compliant manner throughout their entire product life cycle after purchase? II. What measures in the vehicle fleet lead to an immediate reduction in emissions in order not to further jeopardise the climate targets? To answer these questions it is necessary to consider the product life ciycle of a passanger car. According to the KBA, the average vehicle age in Germany is 9.6 years. A period that corresponds to two modelseries. For this period, for example, a vehicle should be kept up to date with the latest technical status by retrofitting and can be operated without restrictions. That is not the case today. For example, when a EURO5 diesel vehicle came onto the market five years ago using state-of-the-art technol- ogy, the vehicle is already banned fromdriving in low emissions zones and so it is no longer fully usable. Shifted on the timeline, this applies to every newvehicle that is placed on themarket. Every new vehicle from Today, is a customer for a technology upgrade of tomorrow. In addition to manufacturers, retrofitters in the automotive industry will be even more challenged in the future to upgrate vehicles with the latest state of the art by means of appropriate technology upgrades, thus avoid- ing traffic bans in low emission zones for the carholder. In particular, in view of the still high sales of conventionally driven vehicles, it is still nec- essary to ensure that the investment in new cars pays off for the vehicle owner and that he is not banned from driving in low-emission zones after a few years. The same applies to the CO2 balance of a vehi- cle. The CO2 share from vehicle production to the total CO2 balance rate with longer vehi- cle use decreases significantly. An important point for the overall climate balance. Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG have already recognized this and are financially promot- ing retrofitting with SCR exhaust systems S H A R E