Peugeot wants to go free of pure ICE by 2023
Peugeot says it plans to have a 100 per cent electrified range by 2023. This would exceed Peugeot’s previous corporate planning. However, the French have not announced a phase-out of the internal combustion engine. Other points also remain open.
The PSA Group had already announced in 2018 that it would also offer offshoots with electric or hybrid drives for all 40 models of its brands by 2025 and that it wanted to achieve an electrification rate of 80 per cent by 2023. At least for the Peugeot brand, the electrification quota is now set to reach 100 per cent by 2023. However, the situation has also changed in the group as a whole since 2018, as PSA recently merged with Fiat-Chrysler to form the new Stellantis group.
A “100 per cent electrified fleet” means that Peugeot will no longer offer pure petrol or diesel as new cars from 2023. However, the French company does not specify what level of electrification it is aiming for – a 48-volt mild-hybrid is considered electrified, but cannot cover significant distances purely electrically and drives like a pure combustion engine for the customer. Based on the PSA platforms CMP and EMP2, Peugeot already offers battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids today.
Instead, Peugeot stresses that the “Power of Choice” is one of the pillars of the brand’s “technological push”. “The new generation of electrified cars offers the brand’s customers the possibility of choosing the type of energy that best suits their needs and uses, without sacrificing design, comfort, level of equipment, spaciousness, load capacity or driving pleasure.”
Peugeot is referring not only to its electric and hybrid passenger cars and all-electric commercial vehicles, but also to its range of electric bicycles, mopeds and scooters and the presence of its vehicles in car-sharing fleets such as Free2Move. “The strong growth in e-commerce activities, where speed and home delivery are key elements, has demonstrated in recent years, especially in the context of a health crisis, the importance of having a fleet of electrified commercial vehicles,” Peugeot wrote.
Incidentally, the push is not justified in the communication with stricter regulatory requirements (such as the discussion about the upcoming Euro-7 emissions standard) or climate change, but with social change. “By 2040, almost 5 billion men and women will live in cities. Making the urban space “sustainable” is one of the main challenges of the 21st century, and the aspiration of creating “sustainable cities” is shared among all city dwellers,” writes Peugeot. “Factors such as air quality, the growth of e-commerce and home delivery, as well as the proliferation of alternative means of transport are changing the face, traffic and way of life in large urban centres.”
This article has been updated to clarify that the Peugeot line will include hybrid vehicles. An earlier version considered them to be combustion-free – we meant pure ICE.
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