Carlos Tavares: Stellantis electrification unchanged after 2035 EU e-fuels agreement

Brussels has been through a turbulent period. After weeks of debate, the European Union and Germany have in recent days reached an agreement allowing the combustion engine to remain in use beyond 2035, provided it runs on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.

Asked what this could mean for the industry at the Freedom of Mobility Forum, Carlos Tavares, Stellantis chief executive, was unequivocal: “nothing has changed” in Stellantis’s electrification path.

“Within Stellantis, we will be absolutely ready in time to deliver this electrified mobility. That is clear,” he said, before criticising policymakers: “The decision on this point should have been made earlier, perhaps in 2014 or 2015”.

Under the European Union’s latest draft, internal-combustion engines will be allowed to stay «alive» after 2035, as long as they use carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.

Stellantis electrification remains on course

“I think synthetic fuels will be another technology that will be developed. But at the end of the day, what we need is safe, clean and affordable mobility. The future will tell us whether we have found the solution to affordability or not. The solution for clean mobility exists if the energy is renewable. But affordability still has to be demonstrated, largely because of the scarcity of raw materials,” Carlos Tavares warned during a discussion lasting around two hours, involving a six-member panel.

The lithium problem

“We know that we need lithium. There are currently 1.3 billion cars on the planet with an internal-combustion engine. We have to replace that with clean mobility. And that will require a great deal of lithium,” Tavares said, before issuing a warning: “Not only may lithium not be sufficient, but the concentration of lithium mining could create other geopolitical problems”.

Among the concerns raised by Carlos Tavares is the fact that some governments are introducing requirements to source raw materials domestically, or even restricting access for certain trading partners. According to the Portuguese executive leading Stellantis, this “increases the costs” of electric cars.

Is a single solution no solution?

Tavares was also critical of policymakers putting all their chips on one solution:

Our societies are losing a great deal of potential because they do not have technologically neutral regulations. It is a major loss of creativity from scientific power to decide in advance to impose a single technology rather than adopting technologically neutral rules that would help create healthy competition.

• Carlos Tavares, Stellantis chief executive

Nevertheless, despite the EU’s change of position, Carlos Tavares was clear that it will alter nothing.

“Do I think it will change anything? No. We will be ready for electrification before the ban in 2035, but we have to acknowledge that this is a profound transformation of the industry”.