Germany’s Economy Minister says the local automotive industry must heavily invest in electric vehicles if it doesn’t want to lose out to other nations, NDTV reports.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that German carmakers need to invest tens of billions of euros in EVs while revealing his confusion as to why this hasn’t already been done. According to Altmaier, there will be demand for millions of electric vehicles moving forward, triggering viable businesses.
In a bid to encourage automakers to venture into the development and production of electric vehicles, the German coalition governments intends on easing the tax burden on drivers of EVs. Additionally, it will provide an additional 100,000 charge points throughout the country and subsidize car-sharing.
Altaimer says that if Germany doesn’t get its act together, companies in Asia and the United States will lead the EV revolution.
Furthermore, Altaimer believes that German car manufacturers must develop vehicles with ranges to rival those of Tesla models but at a more affordable price. He also believes such cars need to be equipped with the most advanced self-driving technology possible.
While some automakers are hedging their bets on electric vehicles being the future, many, not just German ones, aren’t willing to put all their eggs in one basket. Instead, many companies, including the likes of Audi, BMW, and others from across Asia are working on hydrogen fuel cells out of the belief that they too could prove important moving forward.
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