The burning issues on the table when it comes to mobility are numerous and not all easy to resolve. Shortly after the submission to the EU of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan drawn up by the Draghi government — containing, among other things, numerous measures relating to sustainable mobility — we met Fabio Giuliani, General Manager of Bosch Italia, one of the world's leading suppliers of technologies and services. The aim of the interview? To reflect on the macro themes of mobility, in order to understand what possible solutions exist. So, from investments in the electric transition to the potential of green hydrogen, taking in the options for reducing emissions from the transport sector (as well as concerns over the introduction of the Euro 7 anti-pollution regulation), here is what emerged.

Fabio Giuliani, 700 million euros to electrify mobility

Long-standing advocates of technological neutrality as the most appropriate approach for evolving current mobility towards a more sustainable model, and among the world's leading suppliers of technologies and services, Bosch is active in virtually every area of people's lives — from mobility, where it is a strong proponent of the electric transition while pursuing multiple alternatives, to the home and industry.

What role does Bosch play in the progressive transition of mobility towards electrification?
For many years now we have been making a tangible contribution to the electrification of cars. This year we have planned to commit 700 million euros to electrifying mobility. In total, over recent years we have invested 5 billion euros in this direction. We have secured more than ninety projects, thirty of them in the last year alone. The potential for us is therefore truly enormous and we foresee great growth in the near future. We are able to supply everything from a single component to a complete system, guaranteeing maximum flexibility based on our customers' needs. The goal is to reach a turnover of five billion euros by 2025: in a nutshell, we want to play a leading role in the transition to electric mobility.

For years you have been concentrating significant investment on connectivity and artificial intelligence — what are the most important developments and what benefits will people gain from them?
Improving people's quality of life through technology has always been part of the DNA of the Bosch Group. In this sense, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things offer enormous and still largely unexplored potential: a study recently published in Germany highlighted that these fields can support not only health-related applications, but also climate action — widespread digitalisation in the mobility, manufacturing and construction sectors could help the world achieve almost half of the emissions targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

Digitalisation paves the way for sustainability. Trust in the tool is the most important requirement for artificial intelligence to establish itself, improving people's lives and helping to limit climate change. To this end, Bosch relies on industrial AI, which explains the physical world to machines rather than teaching them to behave like human beings, and has also equipped itself with a specific code of ethics for use in this field.

Green hydrogen and fuel cells are emerging as the true revolution in mobility — what developments can we expect and over what timescale? And what issues remain to be resolved?
Hydrogen represents the new frontier of mobility, and not only in that sector. We believe in particular that the green hydrogen industry in the EU will be worth nearly 40 billion euros by 2030, with annual growth rates of 65 per cent. Fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity and Bosch is developing both stationary and mobile fuel cell solutions. From 2021 to 2024, Bosch plans to invest more than one billion euros in this technology.

We recently established — together with Qingling Motors, a premium commercial vehicle manufacturer — a joint venture in China called Bosch hydrogen powertrain systems (Chongqing), whose remit is to handle the development, assembly and commercialisation of fuel cell systems. Of course, certain issues linked to the use of this new solution also need to be taken into account: difficulties with storage, a sparse distribution network, and high unit costs. Furthermore, when we talk about green hydrogen, production must be carried out using renewable energy sources, and for this reason an adequate energy plan will be essential.

The EU's plans for Euro 7 emissions regulation, if confirmed, could lead to a swift and substantial farewell to fossil fuels — what could the possible consequences be for the automotive industry?
It should be said first of all that the Euro 7 standard has not yet been finalised: drafts are being discussed at EU level right at this moment. Certainly, the content currently in circulation is causing considerable concern, as it contains potential restrictions on certain propulsion technologies — such as the internal combustion engine — that have already achieved excellent performance from an environmental sustainability standpoint as well. The limits set by any regulation should be technically achievable and result in a reasonable product cost for the consumer; the risk at present, however, is that of making mobility even less accessible to the average consumer, rather than advancing a process of "democratisation".

There is also another factor to consider for a balanced approach to this issue: the draft standard is in fact also based on extreme test conditions, such as uphill driving with a heavy towed load — situations that rarely occur in everyday driving. And, still on the subject of balance, it should be stressed that tilting mobility too heavily towards the use of a single technology could also cause significant repercussions on the economic and social front, given the lower employment content of an electric vehicle compared with one powered by diesel or petrol. In short, the aim is not to pit existing mobility technologies against one another, but to combine them wisely over time in support of a transition towards decarbonisation.

California has announced a ban on the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines from 2035 — whether diesel or petrol. Many states and cities around the world are doing the same. The goal is to cut local CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions. What is your view on this decision?
We have direct experience that speaks to the level of environmental sustainability achieved by current powertrains: I'm referring to the real driving emissions (RDE) tests we conducted a few months ago together with Mercedes in Milan and Rome. Among the most interesting findings to emerge from those tests was that the average nitrogen oxide emission values and exhaust particle counts from the Euro 6d diesel engine under examination were lower than those of the direct-injection petrol vehicle, even though both remained well below the limits set by current regulations. This is a very different picture from what was recorded with older diesel powertrains, developed before the advent of RDE tests and PEMS.

In those cases, vehicles tested on the road produced real NOx emission values far higher than those recorded in the laboratory. Furthermore, another particularly relevant factor noted during the Milan test was that, in the presence of a high concentration of particulate matter — such as when driving behind a heavily polluting vehicle — the concentration of particles in the exhaust proved to be up to 2,000 times lower than that dispersed into the surrounding ambient air. While it may be an overstatement to call the latest-generation diesels "air-cleaning filters", their reputation as a category nonetheless deserves a radical reassessment: they are a highly important ally in the transition towards electric mobility.

On the subject of fuels, there has long been a great deal of experimentation with synthetic fuels produced from renewable sources — could these represent a concrete scenario for future mobility?
Synthetic and renewable fuels have now moved beyond the basic research phase, and it is already technically possible to produce them. This type of solution helps to counter climate change by reducing CO2 emission content, and it also has the advantage of being usable without first having to modify the distribution infrastructure or the vehicles themselves. The potential impact on the environmental sustainability of mobility is therefore immediate and wide-ranging. Just a few days ago, in collaboration with Shell and Volkswagen, we presented the new Blue Gasoline low-carbon fuel, produced one-third from renewable sources. Following Blue Diesel R33, Bosch, Shell and Volkswagen have now developed a reduced-emissions petrol.

The new fuel delivers a reduction in carbon emissions across the entire well-to-wheel cycle — that is, from the extraction well through to use in vehicles — of at least 20 per cent per kilometre travelled. This means that a fleet of 1,000 Volkswagen Golf VIII 1.5 TSI alone could save more than 230 tonnes of CO2 per year, assuming an annual mileage of 10,000 kilometres each. For Bosch, low- or zero-carbon renewable fuels will complement electric mobility rather than replace it: in principle, the use of these fuels is beneficial across all types of transport, but especially for those for which there is not yet a clear and economically viable path to electrification. Beyond ships and aircraft, this concept applies to all vehicles with internal combustion engines or hybrid propulsion systems that are already on the roads today or will be produced over the coming decades.

Bosch has often pointed to technological neutrality as the most appropriate approach to addressing the future of mobility — so electric would not be the only solution?
I reiterate that electric and hydrogen represent the future, but it is a matter of planning and managing a proper transition. Bosch is focusing on two paths: on the one hand, developing components for the propulsion of hybrid and electric vehicles (battery-powered or fuel cell), and on the other, continuing to improve internal combustion engines. Guaranteeing the so-called powertrain mix becomes important: different technological solutions based on different types of use. At this delicate stage of change in mobility, ruling out or penalising one technological solution over another a priori seems, to say the least, far from strategic. We remain committed across all technologies, with the shared objective of renewing the existing vehicle fleet and offering a range of solutions to be chosen according to one's specific use case.

The pandemic put the spotlight back on air quality in our cities, which is often linked to traffic conditions and mobility — is that really the case? What are the possible solutions?
The issue of air quality remains highly topical and important, above all because of the continuous increase in the number of people who will be moving around in urban centres. It is projected that by 2050 as many as 6 billion people will be living in urban metropolitan areas and that traffic volumes will have tripled; but while these factors will on one hand contribute to deteriorating air quality in specific areas, we must in any case also consider the real weight of mobility. When we think about CO2 emissions, for example, it should be noted that road traffic accounts for around 20 per cent of them: the majority of this type of impact comes from other activities such as energy generation, industrial production and heating, including of course residential heating.

During the pandemic, numerous measurements highlighted how the near-total halt to private mobility did not produce any appreciable effect on air quality. All of this simply goes to say that we are dealing with a complex, multifaceted issue which, even from a regulatory standpoint, should be approached with a holistic, long-term vision. On the subject of solutions, Bosch and PTV Group, global market leader in software for mobility and transport, have joined forces to further improve air quality and reduce traffic-related emissions in cities. The new partnership combines Bosch's know-how in measuring and analysing air quality data with PTV's expertise in traffic planning and simulation. This partnership will provide cities with the right tools to combine mobility and cleaner air in the best possible way. Today many cities in Europe and around the world must combat air pollution, and this newly formed partnership could make a decisive contribution to that end.

The progressive electrification of mobility will inevitably bring with it a profound shift in the skills required, and the local mechanic who has always worked on petrol or diesel engines is not necessarily going to be able to repair electric or hydrogen engines tomorrow; how are we preparing for this?
This very year we are celebrating the centenary of the opening of the first Bosch Car Service workshop: currently the largest network of independent workshops in the world, with over 17,000 affiliates, of which around 1,300 are in our country. We can therefore count on vast experience in terms of vehicle servicing, repair and care. We have always supported our workshops with training and refresher courses to keep them constantly up to date. Today more than ever, the old mechanic has become a mechatronics technician. Our range of services is available for all types of engines, from petrol to diesel, through to electric and hybrid motors. We are always able to offer our customers exactly what they need, servicing all car makes with any type of drivetrain. I would like to close by pointing out that the Italian vehicle fleet is among the oldest in Europe — cars are on average around 12 years old — so in light of this, workshops will have plenty to do in the coming years too, if we want to keep used vehicles in good condition at the very least.

Combating the climate crisis is the new mantra of governments and industry alike; some months ago Bosch had announced its intention to make all its sites carbon neutral by 2020 — where do things stand?
We can say that we have kept our promise. Already since last year, the Bosch Group has achieved carbon neutrality across its more than 400 sites worldwide. Bosch was the first major industrial company in the world to eliminate carbon emissions in relation to both the energy it produces and the energy it procures externally. To achieve this important goal, the company has increased the share of renewables in the energy it produces and uses, and will invest one billion euros to improve the energy efficiency of its sites. Not only will our efforts steer our product range towards energy efficiency, but our business models an