The demands of car owners have changed: Whilst before attributes such as “reliability“ or “a big boot“ came first, nowadays other aspects have priority.
The buyer considers electronically controlled air-conditioning, electronic driving assistants, xenon light and at least four airbags more as standard than as optional. Values of comfort have taken precedence over those of usefulness. The clients have clearly become more demanding. Comfort and safety are part of the basic values of a “good” car.
This technological arms race goes hand in hand with an ever increasing vehicle weight, with the result that one has to wait in a traffic jam with a vehicle weighing more than 1.5 tons just to buy a litre of milk from the supermarket. But that is not all. The trend of the car manufacturers goes more and more clearly in the direction of diversification. The common medium sized car has been loosing out for years in favour of specialized niches.
SUVs and agile sports coupés are eating away on the nimbus of the all-round car for the entire family. Diesel particulate filters and low-emission engines can at best slow down pollutant emission, because experts reckon with a time span of several years until new technologies have a sustainable effect, some critics even say it take decades.
The global traffic jam?
In this context one should also not ignore the global development. In Asia in particular the traffic infrastructure is being developed at a breathtaking speed, and modern roads are being built today even in rural areas. At present there is only one single car in China per 100 inhabitants, whilst in central Europe we have 50 times more vehicles. But the CO2 debate resulting from this should be looked at in a much more relaxed manner – and it mainly takes place in the heads of the Europeans, since Europe is only responsible for a minor share of the total CO2 emissions. The lion’s share here goes to thermal power stations and domestic heating. It is important in this context not to lapse into actionism. What is needed are long-term measures.
SUVs with hybrid power train?
Some car manufacturers are already present in the market with hybrid vehicles. The lowering of CO2 emissions again has priority here. German car manufacturers are clearly lagging behind in this trend, or there are first attempts of integrating hybrid power trains into SUV’s – a dubious measure in connection with these vehicles.
The second alternative which offers short-term perspectives is the conversion of existing vehicles to the flex fuel system (a conversion of the vehicle where one can fill up with either petrol or bio-ethanol), because more bio-ethanol than liquid bio-petrol can be produced per hectare of agriculturally cultivated area. This would clearly reduce CO2 emissions compared to fossil fuels.
The fuel cell, which is being developed for a long time already, will not be ready for marketing in the foreseeable future: There are far too many problems still to be solved in this context, for example the permanent and safe storage of the hydrogen fuel and last not least the essential question of the production of the required hydrogen itself. One must reckon for the near future with an increase of up to 180 % in the amount of traffic in inner city areas of Western Europe, together with a further tightening of emission control (exhaust gas treatment) of Diesel and Otto engines, which will bring a price increase of 1,000 to 1,500 Euro for the car owners. The technical solutions can already be found in the drawers of the car manufacturers; the decision which car will be popular it is up to the buyers.
Author: Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Markus Guggenberger
