2023-07-08 12:04:00
Are car manufacturers ready to begin the ecological transition? At the end of March, the 27 Member States of the European Union validated the end of combustion engines in new cars from 2035. By this deadline, new vehicles will no longer be able to emit any CO2 while driving. In fact, the text thus prohibits gasoline, diesel and hybrid vehicles, in favor of 100% electric. This text is part of the European objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. Manufacturers have no choice but to adapt.
Is this the big comeback of the automotive industry in France?
guest of the Tribune this Saturday, on the occasion of the Economic Meetings of Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Renault group, recognizes that the ecological transition is, in many respects, ” extraordinaire ».
« It’s unavoidable: there will be no turning backhe acknowledged, highlighting the technological progress made by Renault and Michelin. Michelin invented the green tire in 1991, in the most general indifference (…). Renault, in terms of innovation, cannot be blamed for not having grasped the issue of electric power early (…). Today is just an acceleration of history. »
“Europe has no strategy for the automobile” (Luca de Meo, Renault)
Floor on alternative fuels
From there to abandoning the thermal engine definitively in the years to come? Jean-Dominique Senard does not anticipate his disappearance anytime soon.
« We’re going [vers la fin du moteur thermique] with determination: as you know, Renault will be electric in 2030, we know how to do it, he hammered. (…) What we also do is we also keep [les voitures thermiques]because I think, whether we like it or not, that the thermal engine will continue to live all over the world for at least 70 years, we want to keep the capacity to supply this market in the best possible environmental conditions. »
The chairman of the Renault group’s board of directors thus explains that he has kept the hybrid and the combustion engine, and has started a research and development phase ” on alternative fuels » with partners, on hydrogen in particular, in order to respond to consumers who will still be equipped with hybrid or thermal engine vehicles. Jean-Dominique Senard has already shown himself to be very optimistic on the subject.
Production of green hydrogen: “Everyone is late” (Valérie Ruiz-Domingo, Engie)
“Technologically, we know very well that progress is coming,” he says. (…) The question is at what price? The victory will be to be able to reduce the price of alternative fuel to the equivalent of 1 euro, 1.50 euros per litre. The great experts who accompany us say that it is possible. It will happen sooner than you think: maybe in four, five, six years, we will be there..
Either in 2027 or 2028.
All-electric, a bad bet for the future?
What puts the transition of the automotive sector to all-electric into perspective? “This means that in 2035, it will not be the electric car in Europe”immediately reacted the economist Jean Pisani-Ferry, also present this Saturday at the microphone of the Tribune.
« As an industrialist, Renault is obliged to prepare for the future, because if we set off in one direction, without being certain of being able to complete it, we must plan for alternatives: it is of the future of our companiesdefended Jean-Dominique Senard. If we have the slightest doubt regarding having all the necessary energy, affordable and in quantity, regarding materials, geopolitical crises, it is our responsibility to pay attention to group employees and consumers. »
“A war of raw materials”
For Jean-Dominique Senard, the conditions for moving fully towards 100% electric are not met at this stage. In fact, the challenges leading to the transition to 100% electricity are numerous and substantial: technological, financial, energy, but also and above all, in terms of the supply of raw materials. Beijing announced on Monday that exports of gallium and germanium will be subject to government approval.
Strategic metals: Europe trembles, China threatens to curb its exports
What make Europe shiver, and its industrialists, since China produces most of the precious metals and rare earths, minerals crucial for the development of many technologies. ” I’m not absolutely certain that we anticipated the geopolitical crises: I don’t think we anticipated them at all.asserts Jean-Dominique Senard to the Tribune. This requires a diplomacy of the raw material. The wars of the future are commodity wars. »
Reindustrialisation: can France secure the supply of strategic metals?
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