These are recipes from the day before yesterday, some politicians and some commentators complain about Markus Duesmann’s initiative. He of all people, the Audi boss, demands that the car be left behind, that can’t be! How on earth does a car executive get around to advocating a speed limit, or even better, car-free days, like in the ’70s, like the day before yesterday?
After all, people knew about war and the resulting energy crisis, so they didn’t need such radical symbolic politics. It doesn’t bring anything anyway, it rather restricts freedom and also denies that people act sensibly on their own, i.e. thriftily.
It’s actually an unusual move, so it’s fitting that the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung there “hallelujah” calls. But it’s also a real one. Whereby moderation on the gas pedal alone is not enough.
We as a society – at least German, more European – can only get through the crisis well if everyone pulls together. Why should I turn down the heating and, in a jumper, shiver with cold and worry, look at the fill level indicator for the gas storage tanks, which is distributed online, when the neighbor is turning it up to summer temperature and some others in the city are leaving their swimming pools at a comfortable temperature? In the end, the few percent of energy that everyone needs, households and industrial companies, is missing. Fortunately, no one wants to and will invade privacy to remind the over-feeling of common sense and their social responsibility.
In the public space of the street, however, things are different. Here everyone can and should realize that things can’t go on like this, that everyone has to do their bit so that the energy – including petrol, diesel and electricity – ultimately suffices for everyone and remains reasonably affordable for everyone. It will not bother those who already recognize this. And those who don’t care about the country’s well-being need – yes, sorry – to be instructed for a few months.
Converting cars to electricity is not enough
But the Duesmann appeal must go further. And also in his company, in his industry and to the economic and transport politicians. Gas station prices and electricity costs using the example of energy make it clearer than ever how scarce important resources are. And how much we can control their consumption ourselves: drive or not, or slower. But we can also decide on consumption by choosing other means of transport, taking into account the type of movement: bus, train, shared mobility. The crisis now makes it clear that the transport debate has inadmissibly narrowed down to the conversion of drive technology in recent years: electric instead of petrol and diesel. That helps the climate, but ignores the fact that electricity is also a rare resource. So rare that now nuclear power plants have to run longer.
The almost revolutionary call by Markus Duesmann to pause is therefore a clarification that is as courageous as it is correct: the drive turnaround is not enough, a rethink is needed when moving. It has to be about bringing down energy consumption without the accelerator playing a role. Smaller vehicles are needed again, lighter vehicles, the products that Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen are increasingly removing from their portfolios.
Better alternatives to the car are also needed quickly, because how many million people would be stuck at home in the event of a driving ban because there are no buses and trains? After all, it takes intelligent networking of the modes of transport. But everything is missing, smart car models and the political concept of how Germany should be moving in ten years: The federal government has still not presented an idea of what the drive turnaround and mobility turnaround could look like. The concept would also be a partial answer to the scarcity of resources and energy.
Duesmann is right: he and the other drivers have to do their part in this crisis. But finally also the German car industry and the federal government.