AUTONEWS

Fiat conglomerate wants to accelerate the pace of transition to electric traction

It was the management of the Stellantis NV company, which includes the Fiat brand, that has already noticed that the pace of transition to electric traction chosen by politicians and some of the competitors is destructive to the industry and difficult to implement in practice. Now, representatives of the Italian car industry are separately presenting arguments in favor of finding alternatives that allow the use of internal combustion engines without harming the environment. Hydrogen and synthetic biofuels can be factors that extend the life of these machines.

The European Commission plans to reduce the region's entire automotive industry's carbon emissions to zero by 2035, and some countries will impose restrictions on the sale of cars with internal combustion engines even sooner. The ANFIA Manufacturers Association, as noted by Reuters, considers it reasonable to develop the use of new types of fuel that meet stricter environmental requirements. According to representatives of this lobbying body, the Italian automotive industry is already making large investments in the use of hydrogen fuel.

The industry's shift to battery electric vehicles will risk losing 73,000 jobs in Italy but will only create 6,000 jobs in EVs, ANFIA said. Of the 2,200 component manufacturers operating in Italy, only 450 will survive. The European Parliament meeting, which will discuss a ban on the sale of cars with internal combustion engines until 2035, will take place this week. Sports car manufacturers are also calling for hybrid alternatives to “thoroughbred electric vehicles” – Lamborghini considers it possible to use synthetic fuels to refuel these cars. Toyota is also proposing to use internal combustion engines modified to run on hydrogen fuel in order to preserve Japan's existing manufacturing ecosystem.

Image source: Fiat