KTM boss: electric mobility is nonsense

KTM boss Stefan Pierer in an interview with Speedweek: “Electromobility is nonsense pushed by scientifically illiterate politicians. An imposed nonsense”

 

Stefan Pierer is one of Austria’s richest men, CEO of the Pierer Mobility AG, which owns KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas, and heads the European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM). In an interview with Speedweek, he talked about a possible switch of MotoGP to electric, but also about the future of electric drive in two-wheelers on the road.

 

“We can go on forever with internal combustion engines. Electric mobility is a nonsense pushed by scientifically illiterate politicians. A imposed nonsense”

“For a Moto GP motorcycle that today runs a race distance on 20 liters of fuel, you’d need a 500-kilogram battery to get comparable performance and range.”

For that reason, he doesn’t see the point, especially considering that the electricity to charge MotoE’s electric motorcycles currently comes from diesel engines. He sees the future in e-fuels, synthetic fuels that are truly Co2-free.

 

He also sees electric propulsion only in smaller models on public roads in the future:

“As president of ACEM, I can say that, unlike the automotive industry, we have a clear idea globally of where the journey is going. We assume that with 48-volt electrics up to A1 class, which is 11 kilowatts or 15 PS, a lot will become electric in the next ten years, especially in Europe. This will affect scooters and mopeds. All the two-strokes will disappear. Everything that concerns motorized two-wheelers above 48 volts will go in the direction of e-fuels. There are very clear development plans between the manufacturers.”

 

KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas already have various electric two-wheelers in their product range, and the homepage of Pierer Mobility AG also says that the company wants to become a global leader in the low-voltage range (up to 48 volts).