On the Green Fence releases new season focusing on cars and the environment

There are plenty of podcasts about cars, but most don’t cover the environmental angle or indeed why the topic of cars can be such a divisive topic, especially in a country such as Germany – Europe’s automotive powerhouse that boasts leading brands such as Volkswagen, BMW or Mercedes Benz.

Germany’s International Broadcaster Deutsche Welle has just launched a new season of its environment podcast On the Green Fence in which English-German host Neil King takes a closer look at Germany’s road map for e-mobility and what this means for the environment, the country’s influential car industry as well as the average taxpaying German.

The issue of cars is highly controversial and a very timely topic in Germany as it is already featuring prominently in the campaign trail ahead of a crucial federal election in September. An election that will bring the era of chancellor Angel Merkel to an end and could possibly herald in Germany’s first ever Green chancellor. A prospect that has many car owners in Germany worried.

But no matter what the election outcome will be, it’s clear that the automotive industry needs to transform amid ever stricter CO2 targets, and most carmakers have already switched gears accordingly. Germany’s leading carmaker Volkswagen (VW) has for instance announced what it claims to be the industry’s most ambitious e-car strategy to date, promising that 70% of VW core branded cars will be electric in Europe by 2030.

But is e-mobility really the best way forward or are we simply opening up the next environmental problem if we scale-up e-batteries in a bid to ultimately replace the 1.5 billion cars that currently exist on this planet? What role can green hydrogen or synthetic fuels play in this context? Or is it time to rethink our car culture altogether and ban cars from our cities or slap higher taxes on petrol? Tough questions, considering that Germans can’t even agree on the potential introduction of a speed limit on its famous Autobahn.

A lot is at stake, and as Neil discovered producing this podcast mini-series, many Germans are still very much on the fence about how far and how fast this transformation should go. In true On the Green Fence style, Neil tackles this complex topic of e-mobility with an open and curious mind, talking to both stakeholders and critics and picking the brains of experts from a broad range of disciplines. The result is both informative and entertaining. No matter which side of the fence you’re on, you’ll be able to take something away from this series.

The On the Green Fence team:

• Neil King, Host
• Natalie Muller, Producer
• Vanessa Fischer, Senior Editor
• Jürgen Kühn, Sound Engineer