Cover Audi Singapore MD Markus Schuster on how the carmaker is decarbonising its business
Audi Singapore MD Markus Schuster on how the carmaker is decarbonising its business
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What will it take for Audi to become 100 per cent carbon-neutral? Its Singapore MD Markus Schuster shares the company’s electrification strategy
The automotive industry has been at an inflection point for years now, with every mass to luxury carmaker scrambling to develop the most technologically advanced electric vehicle (EV) with the longest range, and roll them out in time for customers to enjoy the early adoption EV incentives in Singapore before they expire at the end of the year.
Motorists, too, will need to inevitably make that switch.
“If we look at the premium market, EV sales in Singapore accounted for 18 per cent last year, and it’s already up to 20 per cent this year. And we can see that it's growing from month to month,” says Markus Schuster, managing director for Audi Singapore.
Read more: Review: Meet the brand new Audi Q8 e-tron—the sensible, high-performance electric SUV
Like most automakers, Audi will be phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in favour of EVs, and by 2026, all new Audi models produced will be pure EVs, says Schuster.
Leading its electrification strategy is the Audi Q8 e-tron, the brand’s new electric SUV flagship launched earlier this year. And those in the market for a more accessibly-priced Audi EV can look forward to the launch of the Q4 e-tron and Q6 e-tron next year.
“These will round up our EV portfolio further down the price ladder,” he adds.
Here, Schuster talks sustainability, circular economy and decarbonising Audi’s supply chain.
What are some of the challenges and opportunities that Audi is facing as a carmaker in today’s economy?
One huge challenge is obviously the CO2 footprint, not only with the burning of fossil fuels in the cars, but also in the production of cars, as it is an extremely energy-intensive business. The challenge is to look at the whole value chain in building a car, and making the CO2 footprint of that value chain smaller. Our production plant for the Q8 e-tron in Brussels is already 100 per cent carbon-neutral.
So we're working on that because we believe the customer already now expects to have this full transparency, and expects companies to take the responsibility of bringing the CO2 footprint down. There are a lot of opportunities at the moment arising from the development of technology.
With the production of the Q8 e-tron already carbon-neutral, what are some other initiatives to decarbonise Audi’s supply chain?
One initiative that Audi has started is the circular economy on the aluminium that is used in producing the cars. So the aluminum that is scrapped in the production process gets recaptured, remelted and put back into the production process.
Same with the windshield glass. When you're producing cars, there is a certain amount of glass that you have to discard because of scratches or impurities. So the glass gets 100% recycled and put back into the process of building the new windshields.
If you look at the Q8 e-tron, the upholstery and most of the material used inside is actually recycled material. If you choose textile seats, those are made from plastic bottles. But you wouldn’t know or feel it because the material feels really good. These are all very small steps, but if you take them altogether, it has a bigger impact.
Another huge topic related to EVs is battery recycling. We have some pilot [programmes] in Germany with charging hubs where you can charge your car and we're using old e-tron batteries as an energy buffer. So you have a trickle charge from the electricity grid that goes into these batteries, and it’s connected to a high power charger which enables us to pump a lot of energy directly into the cars in the shortest time.
How about the sourcing of the raw materials?
The sourcing of, and access to, raw materials is a huge topic in the automotive industry. You don't want to be dependent on just one supplier. And the second thing is the whole sustainability process.
So the Volkswagen Group [which owns Audi], for example, has just started a joint venture in Canada to source a lot of the raw materials and that gives us as a company much more influence on the sustainability process. Because if you're directly involved in getting the raw materials out of the ground, you have much more control over the way these raw materials are sourced. And it gives you more control over the supply that you have.
