INTERVIEW: CHRISTIAN SCHULZE 1 1 markets of Europe, China and North America. But Schulze isn’t convinced that they will dominate everywhere or that the transition will take place quite as quickly as some have predicted. “In Europe, cars typically live between 10 and 15 years – sometimes 20 years,” he comments. “Some countries have started to incentivize the sale of EVs [to speed up this transition], but they’ve recognized that they cannot do that long term because they also need to make big investments in green electricity and charging infrastructure.” Mazda has plans to release two more EVs on existing platforms by 2025, at which point its dedicated Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture should also be ready to expand its electric offerings. Alongside that, the firm will continue to invest in combustion engine technology – including the use of sustainable fuels in parallel to EVs. “We need a little more engineering and a little less ideology,” comments Schulze. “In Germany, we have something like 48 million cars, and around 3% of them are electric. So, if I replace just 3% of the fossil fuel in Germany with carbon-neutral fuel, I have achieved the same benefit. In fact, I’ve removed more CO 2 because those EVs aren’t generally running on 100% green electricity, they’re running on the German energy mix.” In Japan, Mazda has collaborated with Hiroshima University on a project to produce biodiesel from genetically modified algae. The company was also the first automotive OEM to join the eFuel Alliance. “Jointly with the eFuel Alliance, Mazda has promoted the use of carbon-neutral fuels toward the EU legislator, in an attempt to 2 1 & 2. Mazda has returned to its rotary roots, but this time as a range extender for its MX-30 BEV MORE ENGINEERING create more opportunities to speed up the progress toward carbon neutrality,” comments Schulze. “Although there are not yet any large-scale e-fuel production plants in Europe, this technology is increasingly considered to be a viable alternative to achieve carbon neutrality faster, but stronger political support is needed and is currently missing.” Schulze is also keeping a watchful eye on hydrogen technology but he’s skeptical about its use in automotive applications. “Hydrogen comes with a lot of challenges,” he says. “It’s very light [which leads to permeation issues], it’s very aggressive and it’s very difficult to transport. Another point to consider is that we expect to see extremely strong competition for green hydrogen here in Europe. It will be needed for lots of industrial uses and to replace natural gas in domestic heating. For vehicle fuels, it makes more sense to produce them wherever you have abundant access to green energy and then transport them in an energy-dense format. As a minimum, you should take the first step, using that hydrogen to produce methanol.” 3 3. Rotary engines are an ideal fit for range extender applications, thanks to their low weight and compact packaging needs 34 www.automotivepowertraintechnologyinternational.com / March 2024