Germany’s company cars have to become electric

Car with plug-in hybrid drive

Large German companies urgently need to convert their vehicle fleets to e-cars.

(Photo: dpa)

Overweight company cars roll on the streets of the Federal Republic of Germany and spread fear and horror not only because of their size, but above all because of their CO2 emissions. A full 73 percent of new vehicle emissions come from company vehicles – although they only make up half of all new vehicles.

In Germany, these are also particularly massive: the proportion of heavy luxury vehicles in company fleets is particularly high and therefore high in emissions, says a study by the European umbrella organization Transport & Environment (T&E). Half-hearted change is of no use: Uncharged plug-in hybrids with batteries and internal combustion engines produce even higher CO2 emissions.

One would think that the big German corporations would have been preparing for this for a long time. However, a Handelsblatt survey shows that most of the company cars of large companies are still combustion engines in 2021. That has to change urgently, because companies have a real influence on the switch to electromobility.

As mobility alternatives, many companies offer their employees offers such as train cards, job tickets, business bikes or mobility budgets. The alternative incentives offered by companies sound nice. The number of executives in German DAX companies who are switching to a business bike is currently manageable.

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Saying goodbye to the combustion engine arouses unprecedented fears in some people. People like to argue with rare earths, cobalt mining in the Congo or fear of range.

Only five percent of all Germans have a daily commute of 50 kilometers or more, according to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office. Around 48 percent live less than ten kilometers from their place of work.

A vehicle with an electric range of 300 to 400 kilometers does not need to be charged every day. On average, a charge takes between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on the model, provided it is a fast charging station. But the number of private wallboxes has also increased massively thanks to government funding.

Help from the state

And companies too have to work on relieving employees of fear and providing the necessary charging infrastructure at the workplace so that employees can charge their vehicle during working hours – some large corporations are showing how it is.

The state is helping: In the coming years, the “1000 locations program” for fast charging points planned and already initiated by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is intended to remedy the inadequate charging infrastructure. Service employees with long journey times don’t have to twiddle their thumbs when charging, but can work at many fast charging points equipped with WiFi, some of which have their own lounge.

Concern about supposedly rare resources is often just an advanced argument: In future, raw materials such as lithium should also be promoted under fair working conditions and nature conservation in several German regions such as the Ore Mountains or the Upper Rhine Graben. And: It works without it.

BMW’s iX3 does not use neodymium or other rare earths. The models i4 or iX, the Renault Zoe or Nissan Ariya as well as various other vehicle models also do without neodymium. The cobalt, which is often extracted under questionable conditions, is no longer contained in some Tesla batteries. Research is also being carried out into alternatives to lithium.

The problem of long delivery times

In the case of smartphones, notebooks, flat screen televisions, LED lamps, and paints, concerns about the scarce raw materials are raised much less often, although they are also included there. There are good arguments for the electric car: over their entire life cycle, despite the high energy consumption in battery production, the electric vehicles emit 70 percent less CO2 than burners, according to the ICCT calculated in a recent study.

One problem affects combustion and electric cars alike: the lack of chips is currently causing long delivery times. New models often take months, sometimes more than a year, to be delivered. This makes it difficult to modernize company fleets.

But that shouldn’t be an argument to opt for a new combustion engine. The consequences are fatal: a car with a combustion engine bought today will have a negative impact on the carbon footprint of the years to come. After all, at the end of the lease, company vehicles are often flushed into the market as young used vehicles. The company fleets have a real impact on a revolution in the car market and thus on how quickly Germany can switch to e-mobility.

The task of our time, overcoming the climate crisis, depends on taking responsibility. The large German corporations now have the opportunity to lead the way as pioneers in this segment and to take on responsibility.

If the low stocks of e-cars are actually due solely to long delivery times, the balance of the service fleets in 2022 would have to look significantly different. It would be desirable.

More: Hardly any electric cars, combustion engines dominate everywhere: which corporations have the cleanest company car fleets

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