Automotive News Europe — 2024-06-14
Automotive Industry
Ineos has been examining different technologies, including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell.
Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder believes that the automotive industry should rely on a range of technologies going forward as the vehicle-making arm of the British chemical conglomerate Ineos Group continues to sell SUVs with gasoline and diesel engines, while simultaneously developing an new model with battery-electric and range-extender powertrains.
The company’s Grenadier offroad SUV “suits” its gasoline and diesel engine, although admittedly “this goes against the grain of what everyone else is doing,” Calder said at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Frankfurt on 12 June 2024.
Nevertheless, the company takes its responsibility toward net zero “very seriously” and has been examining different technologies, including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell.
“We are not saying that electric vehicles do not have a place. We very much believe that they do have a place. But I just do not see a scenario where 100% of powertrain requirements are fulfilled by electric,” Calder said.
In 2026, Ineos is set to introduce its Fusilier off-road SUV in zero-emission form. It aims to introduce three more model lines before the end of the decade.
EV-only will not work
In terms of meeting emission targets, Calder urges governments and regulators to specify what automakers need to achieve and by when.
That said, they need to remain “neutral” about which technology should be employed. “This is not about us wanting to come with gas guzzlers," Calder said, "but about a rational approach and coming up with a multifold set of technologies that will actually help us achieve the goal.”
Going forward, focusing solely on electrification will not work, she added.
“Nobody has asked the drivers what they want. If the customer does not want to drive it, if it does not fit into the driver’s life it will fail. If we do not think about the grid and how we are going to actually fund it, it will fail," she said. "If we do not think about where the electricity is coming from, then it will fail.”