It is rather unusual for the boss of a carmaker to talk about the benefits of car-free city centers. However, BMW boss Oliver Zipse is apparently not afraid of the current debates. In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Zipse frankly explains that he prefers to travel in Munich by subway rather than by car.
In terms of environmental protection and air quality, it is only a question of intelligent urban planning to give people options other than driving. Nevertheless, Zipse does not believe in the SUV debate in Germany today, which he sees as “scaremongering” and brings a good comparison: The 15-year-old station wagon is a much bigger problem for the environment than a modern SUV with current exhaust gas cleaning.
Furthermore, the BMW CEO sees the increasing electrification of the car fleet as a suitable reaction from BMW to the climate crisis. Zipse says that BMW ges regular reports from the World Climate Council. In Europe, BMW plans to sell half of its new cars with electrified drives by 2030, thereby helping to reduce CO2 emissions.
Using the example of current plug-in hybrids, BMW has independently examined and confirmed that this is not just a matter of shifting emissions from the car to another location. Accordingly, the carbon footprint of a BMW X5 xDrive45e is up to 70 percent smaller than that of an X5 with a comparable conventional drive, depending on the power mix used, over the entire lifecycle.
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To get more electric cars on the road, Herr Zipse once again underlines the importance of appropriate political support. For BMW, this is associated with opportunities “for higher quantities and therefore profit” because electric cars and plug-in hybrids can follow in the footsteps of conventionally powered cars in terms of their economic importance. If they are sold accordingly.
[Source: Bimmertoday]
