Mercedes-Benz: Europe likely won’t be ready for all-electric sales by 2030

Mercedes-Benz Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius has said the company does not expect its sales in Europe to be all-electric by 2030 but promised it will have its line-up ready either way.

Kaellenius was speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich car show.

Mercedes-Benz has previously said its target is to have all-electric sales by 2030; “where markets allow”. It also said, however, that it is up to the customers to decide what product they want while it also highlighted the need for infrastructure to support the transition to electric vehicles (EV).

And despite the EV market having grown significantly in recent years, Kaellenius said it likely wouldn’t be ready for all-electric sales by 2030.

“It’s not going to be 100% in 2030, obviously… from the whole European market, but probably from the Mercedes side as well,” he said. “We will be ready… but we will also have tactical flexibility,” he said, referring to the ability to produce electric or combustion-engine vehicles on the same production line.

His comments align with a growing sense of caution among major global carmakers about scaling up EV production and uptake as regulatory targets limiting fossil fuel-emitting cars draw nearer.

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse has also voiced doubts over whether the market will be ready for the full transition, telling a round-table over the weekend that the 2026 review date for the EU’s 2035 ban on fossil fuel-emitting cars would not have been set if legislators did not expect some delay.

The CEO of Volkswagen, Oliver Blume, said the company would be ready for the ban.

EV sales in Europe grew nearly 55% in the first seven months of 2023, to about 820,000 vehicles, making up about 13% of all car sales.

But executives have spoken out with growing urgency on barriers to producing and selling EVs on a larger scale at competitive prices, from high electricity costs to the lack of charging infrastructure.

(Source: Reuters)