āGermany has lost the race for rangeā
In the race for developing the best storage technology for electric vehicles, German Chancellor Angela Merkelās strategy is ānot trying to overtake the mighty Asian competitorsā in conventional lithium ion-battery technology ābut forging ahead with a completely new generation of batteriesā, business weekly WirtschaftsWoche reports in a long article. āThis plan will fail,ā the article says. Car manufacturers āare avoiding the financial riskā of supporting innovation, researcher Mareike Wolter of Fraunhofer IKTS argues. Being an industry āspoilt by successā, German carmakers āare fumbling around with small-scale lab models and lighthouse-projectsā while others have invested billions and have become āuncatchableā in this key technology, the article says.
Read the article in German .
Read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers for background.