Passenger Car Powertrains and Future Energy Scenarios: From Technical Facts towards Political Reality

Authors

Dr. G. Fraidl, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) B. Enzi, Dr. P. Kapus, Dr. C. Martin, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) M. Rothbart, AVL List GmbH, Graz:

Year

2021

Print Info

Production/Publication ÖVK

Summary

Especially in Europe, the economic consequences of the Corona Crisis act almost as a fire accelerator in the direction of - at least in a simplified Tank-to-Wheel view - CO₂ free mobility. A selective incentivation - clearly focused on electric powertrains - combined with the economic pressure to reduce the technology portfolio - results in an accelerated focus on electric drives. Contrary to previous expectations, in future Europe and not China will become the lead region for Battery-Electric Vehicles. While this appears attractive from a pure tank-to-wheel CO₂ consideration, a lifecycle analysis - which is directly relevant for the actual climate challenges - raises essential questions. In particular, the clear sector separation between transport, production and energy supply provides individual local optima, however, no comprehensive climate-relevant CO₂ optimum during the transition towards a dedicated CO₂ neutrality. For an efficient and marketable CO₂ reduction, a comprehensive approach is required that goes beyond powertrain and vehicle related improvements and correlates this in the best possible way to the temporal progression of the CO₂ reductions of the primary energy supply. This should not start with a “Competition of Technologies” on the powertrain side as in the past, but by utilizing the “Synergy of Energy Sources and Energy Carriers” on the energy supply side - from “Powertrain portfolio Drives the Energy Carriers” towards “Energy Sources and Carriers Drives the Powertrain Portfolio“.

Number of pages

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