FRANKFURT: After years watching Tesla’s electric cars speed ahead while they have been on the defensive over an industry-wide diesel emissions scandal, German high-end manufacturers have finally unveiled their first challengers to the Californian upstart.
Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi and Porsche subsidiaries between them control some 80 percent of the worldwide premium car market.
But until recently they offered little battery-powered, zero-emission competition to Tesla and its bombastic chief executive Elon Musk.
That changed this month, with all three groups unveiling their first all-electric SUVs slated for release over the next two years.
Audi rolled out its “E-Tron,” BMW its “iNext” and Mercedes its “EQC,” while Porsche presented an electric coupe, the “Mission E.”
In total, German carmakers have vowed a total of almost €40 billion ($46.7 billion) of investment in battery-powered vehicles in the coming three years, industry association VDA says.
With a market share of around eight percent in Germany — compared with Tesla’s 0.1 percent — Audi hopes electric cars will account for around one in three sales by 2025.
“Finally, it’s getting started!” auto industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer said.
Time is pressing, as sales of engines powered by automakers’ longtime growth driver diesel have plummeted in the face of plans by many large cities to ban them to bring down air pollution.
The entrance of the three German behemoths into the electric race is far more consequential for Tesla than smaller fish like Britain’s Jaguar, whose “I-PACE” is already on sale in the UK.
And the US tech firm faces major hurdles of its own, struggling to stem losses that have been going on for years while trying to reassure investors and customers of its chief executive’s mental health.
Musk was filmed drinking whisky and smoking cannabis (which is legal in California) with radio host Joe Rogan earlier this month, and in August revealed he was suffering from intense stress and fatigue in an interview with the New York Times.
On Tuesday, Tesla confirmed that the US Department of Justice was investigating the company over Musk’s tweet announcing a plan to remove its shares from the stock market.
Also, on Twitter, the South African entrepreneur admitted Tuesday that after months spent overcoming “production hell” on the firm’s mass-market Model 3, it was now in “delivery logistics hell” struggling to get cars to buyers — while promising “rapid progress.”
For expert Dudenhoeffer, “Tesla is the market leader and has great strength in innovation, but the coming six to nine months will be a decisive test” for its chief executive.
“If he doesn’t manage to stabilize the Model 3 and make the firm profitable, it will get very complicated for him, including with regard to his investors.”
The German government hopes to see one million fully electric and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2022, up from fewer than 100,000 at the start of this year.
But the spread of the technology is constrained by a number of factors, including a limited range of models for sale, slow expansion of charging infrastructure and limited capacity for building new batteries.
A government commission on electric mobility recently found Germany would need to increase the number of charging points available more than five-fold to serve a million drivers.
And while they are perfecting electric motors and other electric-drive components, German carmakers have so far balked at direct investment in costly battery production, aware that they would have to catch up on a head start enjoyed by Asian industry leaders and unwilling to gamble on an adventure in the unfamiliar territory of cell chemistry.
European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said recently that the EU should be open to state aid for a long-hoped-for “Airbus of batteries,” while business daily Handelsblatt reported the German economy ministry is cobbling together a consortium of companies and research institutes.
For now, the most conspicuous progress comes from China’s CATL.
The challenger for global battery leadership against the alliance of Japanese Panasonic and Tesla announced in July a mammoth new factory in central Germany to supply European customers.
German competitors unveil own electric cars in catch-up race against Tesla
German competitors unveil own electric cars in catch-up race against Tesla
- Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi and Porsche subsidiaries between them control some 80 percent of the worldwide premium car market
- German carmakers have vowed a total of almost €40 billion of investment in battery-powered vehicles in the coming three years
Using space science to protect Saudi Arabia’s environment
- Kingdom is harnessing satellite technology to forecast disasters, boost agriculture
RIYADH: Learning space science has delivered significant environmental benefits worldwide, helping many countries better understand and manage climate challenges.
Saudi Arabia is now taking steps not only to explore the galaxy but also to invest in future generations who can apply space science to pressing environmental issues at home.
Last November, the Space Academy, part of the Saudi Space Agency, launched a series of seminars designed to enhance knowledge and develop skills in space science and technology, with a particular focus on Earth observation.
Running for nearly a month, the program formed part of a broader strategy to nurture national talent, raise scientific awareness, and build data capabilities that support innovation and research across the Kingdom.
As efforts to strengthen the sector continue, important questions remain: How can space science translate into tangible environmental benefits? And how large is the global space economy?
In an interview with Arab News, Fahad Alhussain, co-founder of SeedFord, highlighted the scale of the opportunity and its environmental impact.
“To be frank, the slogan that we always use in space is that ‘saving the Earth from the space.’ It is all about this,” Alhusain told Arab News.
“You can recall a lot of related environmental issues like global warming, related to forests, related to the damage that happens to the environment. Without space, it would be almost impossible to see the magnitude of these damages.”
According to Alhussain, satellites have transformed how experts observe environmental changes on Earth, offering a comprehensive view that was previously impossible.
He said that “the transformation of technology allows even the non-optical ways of measuring, assessing, and discovering what is going on in the environment … you can even anticipate fire before it happens in the forest.”
“You can detect the ice-melt down, you can get huge amount of information and can see it through the weather maps…there is a huge section in the economy for the environment,” Alhussain commented.
A 2022 report by Ryan Brukardt, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, published by McKinsey Quarterly, found that more than 160 satellites currently monitor Earth to assess the impacts of global warming and detect activities such as illegal logging.
Brukardt cited NASA as an example of how advanced satellite tools are used to track environmental changes, including shifts in ocean conditions, cloud cover, and precipitation patterns. He also noted that satellite data can help governments determine when immediate action is needed, particularly in response to wildfires.
FASTFACT
Did You Know?
- Satellites collect massive amounts of data, and AI is used to help interpret this information more efficiently and predict future outcomes.
- The global space economy surpassed $600 billion in 2024 and is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030.
- Saudi Arabia has established three key entities: the Supreme Space Council, the Saudi Space Agency, and the Communications, Space, and Technology Commission.
Beyond disaster response, satellites offer vital insights for agriculture. According to Brukardt’s report, scientists can use space-based data to monitor crop development and anticipate threats to harvests, such as drought or insect infestations.
These wide-ranging applications explain the rapid growth of the global space economy.
According to World Economic Forum research, the sector is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, nearly tripling from $630 billion in 2023.
For Saudi Arabia, expanding space science capabilities could help address the country’s arid conditions by monitoring desertification and identifying sources of air pollution. Early detection of droughts, heatwaves, and crop stress could support more effective environmental planning and response.
Space-based data could also play a critical role in tracking environmental changes in the Red Sea and surrounding coastal ecosystems, strengthening marine conservation efforts and supporting the Sustainable Development Agenda.
As Alhussain emphasized, advancing knowledge in space science and satellite technology enables experts to measure environmental damage accurately and predict disasters before they occur, allowing for more effective responses.
By investing in space science education and research, the Kingdom can build national expertise, strengthen environmental protection policies, enhance food and water security, and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change—while also benefiting from the rapidly expanding space economy.
Ultimately, a deeper understanding of space and its applications offers Saudi Arabia, and the world, better tools to anticipate climate challenges, protect ecosystems, and safeguard biodiversity.
“By collecting data and using satellites, you can better analyze and measure so many things that help the environment,” said Alhussain.
“There will be patterns where you can warn people, scientists and decision makers to do something about it.”
