Sergio Marchionneformer CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles passed away on July 25, 2018 due to a serious illness, in 2017 he had raised doubts about the premature and massive introduction of electric cars for a series of reasons that he had explained well. The speech in which he had made several considerations on electric cars had been held in Rovereto in 2017, during the ceremony for the awarding of the honorary degree in mechatronic engineering where Marchionne, then leader of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group, expressed reservations about the future of electric cars in front of professors and students of theUniversity of Trento. Almost 10 years have passed, many things have changed, infrastructures have been improved, autonomy has improved. But despite this, the electric car market is struggling to take off and the vision of the great manager still seems current for many.
Marchionne and his vision on the electric car
Marchionne had then highlighted the fact that they were not yet ready for the transition to electric cars. Today, his predictions seem to be coming true, with the electric car market in difficulty, manufacturers suffering heavy losses and energy problems accentuated by the growing consumption of Data Center And Artificial intelligence in addition to the ever-growing one of electric cars. The crisis is aggravated by the lack of a strategic vision and incisive leaders like him.
Marchionne emphasized the risks and the challenges associated with this seemingly revolutionary technology. During his now famous speech, he warned against rushing to consider electric as the final solution to reduce emissions, especially in urban centres, by defining it ‘a double-edged sword‘.”
According to Marchionne, the situation of electric cars is comparable to that ofhydrogen: while promising “very clean” vehicles, the environmental costs of the process production remain high. For hydrogen, production required huge amounts of energy and indirectly generated a pollution significant. He also highlighted that the limits of electric are not just limited to practical problems such as high costs, limited autonomy, long charging times and the lack of supply infrastructure.
The real question, for him, was the source of the energy used to power electric vehicles. Globally, about two-thirds of electricity is still produced by fossil sourceswith coal – the most polluting of these – accounting for about 40% of the total. His analysis highlighted how the real challenge lay not only in changing technology, but in completely rethinking the way in which we produce and use energy.
In this context, the spread of electric cars it wouldn’t solve the environmental problembut it would risk making it worse. “If the problem of producing energy from clean and renewable sources is not solved”Marchionne argued, “the conversion to electric represents a threat to the very existence of our planet.”
This 10 year old vision, against the grain compared to the widespread enthusiasm for electric vehicles raises fundamental questions about the future of sustainable mobility. While the automotive world in Europe has progressively had to bend towards electrification, the concerns raised by Marchionne regarding the sustainability of the entire production cycle remain current.
In an era in which the energy resources are increasingly in demand and the global energy requirement is constantly growing, Marchionne’s words appear prophetic. The transition to electric, if not accompanied by a revolution in energy sources, risks being just a palliativerather than a definitive solution to the climate crisis.
Norway teaches. Electric car sales have reached almost 100% but in a country where almost 100% of energy is produced from renewable sources, between wind and especially hydro, with an electricity cost that is obviously among the lowest in Europe. There is still a lot to do for the transition. We hope solutions and a greater gradualness will be found so that it is less painless for work activities, employees and not only.
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