Aston Martin dismisses fully electric cars, calls for fuel cells instead

With electric cars and concepts from established luxury and performance car makers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche, it's at least a wee bit surprising that we've never heard anything about electric vehicles from Aston Martin. Perhaps we now know why. Speaking at the Frankfurt Motor Show to Auto Express in the U.K., Aston Martin chief Dr. Ulrich Bez said:

The technology for [electric cars] will not become truly usable until at least 2020. Real-world driving will highlight their weaknesses... It is not something Aston Martin is working on, and it will not represent a true alternative to the combustion engine for a long time.

So, if not electric vehicles, where should we look for lowered emissions? Hydrogen, apparently. Dr. Bez reportedly called for the automotive industry to focus its efforts on the fuel cell and suggests that governments should invest resources for their development.

That's certainly not a new sentiment – earlier this month, a consortium or eight automakers came out in support of hydrogen fuel cells – but it's important to remember that fuel cell-powered cars are really electric-powered cars that use hydrogen to store energy in lieu of batteries.

[Source: Auto Express]