"What Innovations Do We Need for Sustainable Mobility?" - Interview with Thomas Weber
Climate protection, the efficient use of resources, and the growing trend toward individual mobility - in the future, all of these challenges can only be met by achieving sustainable mobility. Innovations that promote sustainability will play a key role here. Thomas Weber, member of the Daimler Board of Management responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, provides a glimpse of the future of sustainable mobility.
Mr. Weber, according to expert estimates the number of automobiles in the world will have tripled by the year 2050. Does Daimler regard this forecast as an opportunity?
Thomas Weber: We regard it as a business opportunity, and we consider it our responsibility to make sure that this mobility is sustainable. We invented the automobile - and we will shape its future with passion. We are ready and willing to accept a pioneering role when it comes to clean, efficient, and safe automobiles. For example, in 2007 we increased our investments in environmental protection by more than 10 percent to €1.85 billion. I think that's a clear indication of our position.
And how do you intend to shape sustainable mobility in the future?
Through smart technological innovations that offer the customer clear added value! At the IAA in Frankfurt in 2007 we impressively presented our "road to the Future," which sketches out all the future possibilities in the area of passenger cars. We will be offering pioneering innovations in the upcoming model cycles, from cutting-edge internal combustion engines and hybrid solutions to fuel cell and electric drive systems. And in the commercial vehicle segment we have also shown through our "Shaping Future Transportation" initiative that we are already the global market leader when it comes to environmentally friendly drive systems. And these extensive measures are not just coincidental. They are the result of many years of hard work by our engineers that are now paying off - especially for our customers.
What can innovations really contribute to sustainable mobility?
Quite a lot! Take our BLUETEC technology, for example. It makes diesel engines, which are very efficient anyway, just as clean as gasoline engines. Since the introduction of BLUETEC in 2005 in Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles, more than 150,000 BLUETEC trucks and buses have been sold in Europe. We then introduced this innovative technology in the passenger car segment in the U.S. in October 2006 and brought it to Europe in the following year in the E 300 BlueTEC. What's more, in 2008 we will put the first diesel SUVs with Bin 5 and ULEV certification on the road in all 50 U.S. states. This technology even has the potential to meet a future EURO 6 emissions limit.
And what are you doing to boost efficiency?
We were the first company to introduce second-generation direct-injection gasoline engines in the CLS 350 CGI, thus proving that our innovations can achieve considerable gains in fuel efficiency - around 10 percent! And with our innovative DIESOTTO drive system we've also offered a glimpse of the future of the gasoline engine. We've created an extensive package of intelligent efficiency measures for our BlueEFFICIENCY models. Our engineers have scrutinized every part and every component of these vehicles in order to reduce their energy consumption. The result is a significant reduction of fuel consumption of as much as 12 percent - with no sacrifice in comfort and the level of safety that are typical of Mercedes.
Other automakers are promoting hybrid solutions as the answer to the demand for more efficiency and environmental friendliness…
Unfortunately, the answer is not quite that simple. Because of the diverse requirements of our customers, there is no single technology that will achieve sustainable mobility. That's why we'll continue to see a mixture of different drive systems on our roads in the future. Hybrid technology has its advantages, especially in the stop-and-go traffic of our inner cities, and that's why it's an integral component of our drive system strategy. We are focusing our efforts on a modular component system, but we're not losing sight of the fact that a hybrid vehicle is only as good as the internal combustion engine that drives it. The continual refinement and optimization of internal combustion engines is a fixed component of our strategy. Zero-emission driving with fuel cell and battery-operated vehicles also offers tremendous potential, especially for urban applications. However, in this area we still have to solve the problem of an inadequate infrastructure - that is, we need a network of charging stations and filling stations for hydrogen.
And what about commercial vehicles?
We are doing very well in this regard. Daimler Trucks is the leader in North America for hybrid drive vehicles, with more than 1,500 Orion buses on the road and a further 1,100 orders in the pipeline. In Japan we've also got successful hybrid vehicles on the market, namely the Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid and the Aero Star Eco Hybrid. What's more, we've also delivered 1,500 natural gas-powered Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses to customers. And 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses powered by fuel cells and electric motors have proved their suitability for day-to-day public transportation in more than 2 million km (1.2 million miles) of test drives. Efficiency, safety, and environmental friendliness are the characteristics our customers are already experiencing today in our commercial vehicles!
You need all kinds of know-how in this all-out effort to promote innovations. What are the main pillars of your strategy?
We are strategically very well positioned. Companies that aim to be pioneers in terms of producing clean and safe automobiles need a solid research and development strategy that intelligently combines areas of expertise and works closely together with suppliers, scientific researchers, and other cooperation partners. We've proved how successful this approach can be through our lithium-ion battery technology, for example. We were the world's first automaker to succeed in adapting this technology to the stringent demands of the automotive sector. We have safeguarded our innovative achievement through 25 patents, and we're going to launch it on the market in the S 400 BlueHYBRID, followed by the next generation of the smart ed. Our participation in the testing and research of biofuels in the CHOREN project also exemplifies this strategic approach. And through our majority holding in the Automotive Fuel Cell Corporation (AFCC) we are also excellently positioned in the area of fuel cell stacks.
