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logo 39 • the CAMLOG Partner Magazine • November 2016 LIFESTYLE 40 2030 – "GERMAN REQUIEM“ FOR COMBUSTION ENGINES In a country where pioneers such as Nicolaus August Otto, Wilhelm Maybach and Karl Benz made their ingenious inventions, started and rigorously promoted developments which, in the true sense of the word, still "keep the world on the move" today, it can surely be expected that it will continue to set benchmarks for individual mobility. Today, German engineering skills, which were largely responsible for the reputation of "Made in Germany", are faced with an even greater challenge, that of leading automotive engineering into its next age with a quantum leap – that of sustainable environmental compatibility. We do not need polar explorers and highly specialized glaciologists to tell us about drill cores from the depths of polar ice layers suggesting there can be no doubt that meteorological events are taking place which require our dire attention. The past few years, with their accumulation of extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, severe weather and floods, even in our (still) "moderate" climate zones, have clearly demonstrated that massive changes are taking place in atmospheric circulation, the consequences of which cannot even be closely predicted due to the number of factors involved. For example, the permafrost soils of the Arctic Tundra contain unbelievable quantities of CO 2 which will be released into the atmosphere when they melt, as already being observed today, which will lead to a massive increase of the greenhouse effect and raise the average temperature. And although it is occasionally stated that this tends to be the rule rather than the exception in the evolution of Earth, this still cannot discount the fact that mankind's effect on climate through industrialization and motorization represents a phenom- enon so far not seen. Driver climate treaty There was considerable unrest recently, when the German Federal Council announced that there should/would be no more vehicles with combustion engines in Germany after 2030. This is based on the Paris Climate Treaty signed by the Federal Republic of Germany at the end of 2015. The treaty stipulates that the world should be CO 2 -neutral as of 2050. This implies: carbon dioxide should not be emitted in quantities greater than those which can be absorbed through the photosynthesis of plants, for example. The German Federal Council comments: "Since not all industrial sectors will be free of greenhouse emissions by the year 2050, we expressly support the goal of having virtually emission-free mobility within the EU by the year 2050." And the "abolition" of pollution-emitting combustion engines in Germany by 2030 shall represent a decisive contribution. As things stand today, "emission-free mobility" can only be achieved if the global fleet of vehicles is more or less fully converted to electric vehicles by 2050. The energy required for propulsion would then have to be generated entirely from renewable resources such as the sun or wind. Where does Germany stand? It would by far exceed the limits of our short "article of encouragement" to list all the possible technical options here. Three major issues in E-mobility no doubt include battery technology (range!), the costs of Jan Peters Writer Kaiseraugst/Switzerland