As a German federal court allowed German cities to ban diesel cars from their city centres, Toyota will take diesel cars out of its showrooms in Europe in 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is apparently ditching diesel by 2022,  are zero emission vehicles becoming the norm? After announcing record profits in 2017, taken into account even their Dieselgate billionnaire settlements, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller still points to a future for clean diesel. It would be indeed great if automotive companies would accelerate cleaning up there diesel engines, however, clogged and polluted cities like Brussels and Paris long for Lynk and Co hybride and sharable solutions. This “Chinese Volvo” made in Gent Belgium, coming soon with fuel cell powertrains (we expect) and NOT in a showroom near you, will be marketed and sold online.
Out with the old, in with the, well…new? The “Powertrain Study” of 2010 has not been updated since, see link to our Monthly update in 2010, including the first announcement that Volvo went battery!  Juelich recently confirmed a similar outcome in a recent study: if vehicle penetration increases up to 20 million vehicles in a base case scenario, a battery charging infrastructure would cost around € 51 billion, and a hydrogen infrastructure comes in at around € 40 billion. So where will these 20 mln FCEV come from “in the coming 8 years”…..

Photo: courtesy EHEC2018 Malaga, Toyota Mirai