“The market economy works best when you have clear and [the] same rules for all market participants, a level playing field,” Ola Kallenius, chief executive of Daimler, told the Financial Times.
German electric-vehicle subsidies are available to all buyers regardless of where the cars are made. Kallenius urged the US to follow suit and “let the market decide”.
The German car lobby, the VDA, has also criticised the plans.
“Unilaterally designed funding criteria contradict transatlantic co-operation, which we would do better to intensify rather than slow down,” said VDA president Hildegard Müller. “We now need joint co-ordinated efforts to achieve climate goals. New trade conflicts must be avoided.”
German manufacturers produced more than 742,000 cars in the US last year, according to the VDA, and employed more than 60,000 people. Volkswagen’s Audi and VW brands are among the top sellers of plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars in the country, as is BMW.
However, Audi does not have a US plant, while neither VW and BMW’s factories nor Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz plants are unionised.
Category: Daimler (Page 1 of 2)
Australia Post has depolyed the first of 20 electric trucks to its national delivery fleet, with three Fuso eCanters now delivering parcels to customers in Melbourne ahead of Christmas.
The eCanter adds to Australia Post’s existing electric delivery fleet of more than 2100 electric delivery vehicles and 1400 electric bicycles and follows the successful trial of the Daimler-developed truck in late 2019.
Australia Post General Manager Networks, James Dixon said the addition of the Fuso eCanter to Australia Post’s delivery fleet was an exciting step for the organisation.
Peter Campbell / Financial Post 🔒 »
But Gerrit Marx, chief executive, warned that an expected lack of charging stations that could cater to large, long-distance vehicles was likely to hold back buyers.
“If you take infrastructure off the table [as a barrier], if it’s available today, the industry could go zero emission by 2030 or 2035,” he told the Financial Times.
However the prediction is “theoretical,” he added, because “the network of refuelling and recharging will not be there I’m afraid”.
…
Three of the largest truck manufacturers — Daimler, Volvo and Scania-owner Traton — are already planning to spend €500m putting in 1,700 charging stations for electric lorries across Europe. The industry estimates it needs 50,000 chargers across the continent by the end of this decade.
FUSO eCanter
Daimler says the FUSO eCanter is now in sixteen countries and cities including New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Auckland are using the urban delivery truck.
Mitsubishi Fuso is a subsidiary of Daimler.
Elsewhere » Just Auto
Daimler Truck and TotalEnergies have reached an agreement to develop fuel cell ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks running on hydrogen in the European Union.
The collaboration includes hydrogen sourcing and logistics, dispensing of hydrogen in service stations, development of hydrogen-based trucks, establishment of a customer base and other areas.
By 2030, TotalEnergies plans to operate up to 150 hydrogen refuelling stations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France.
Daimler Truck has committed to start offering hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks to its customers by 2025.
Source » Daimler Truck AG
The Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars and Vans, announced at the COP26 climate summit, includes a commitment to “work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets”.
Ford, General Motors, Geely-owned Volvo, Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz, BYD, and Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover all signed the commitment.
Major automakers notably absent include Toyota (unsurprisingly*), Volkswagen, BMW, Renault, Hyundai, Honda, Nissan, and Stellantis.
Toyota Motors is the third most obstructive company in the world, actively lobbying against national climate policies. They are third behind gas and oil giants ExxonMobile and Chevron.
Chinese-owned Sweden-based Volvo has already committed to going fully electric by 2030.
Countries that did sign the declaration include » Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
Major auto producing countries notably absent include » China, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
Canadian provinces of British Columbia, and Quebec also committed.
Daimler CEO Ola Kaellenius discusses chip supply-chain issues and the global transition to electric vehicles from the sidelines of the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, Scotland on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”
Watch the video at Bloomberg or down below ⤵️