Carlos Tavares says Stellantis electrification will not change after 2035

Brussels is going 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 during the Freedom of Mobility Forum, Carlos Tavares, Stellantis chief executive, was unequivocal: it has “changed nothing” in Stellantis’s electrification path.

Stellantis and electrification beyond 2035

“In Stellantis’s case, we will be fully 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.”

It should be remembered that the European Union’s latest draft allows internal-combustion engines to remain “alive” after 2035, as long as they use carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.

“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 or not we have found the solution to affordability. 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 issue

“We know we need lithium. At present, there are 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 are 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 also took a critical view 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 instead of adopting technologically neutral rules that would help create healthy competition.

Carlos Tavares, Stellantis chief executive

Yet, after all is said and done, and regardless of this shift in the EU’s position, Carlos Tavares was emphatic in acknowledging that it will change nothing.

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