From 30 April to 2 May 2026, around 1,000 experts from the international automotive industry met at Vienna’s Hofburg for the 47th International Vienna Motor Symposium. The dominant message from the global powertrain community: the transformation of mobility will not be achieved by banning a single technology, but by combining electrification, hybrids and renewable fuels – many of which depend directly on Power-to-X.

A clear call for technology openness

In his opening, congress chair Prof. Bernhard Geringer called for a neutral debate that takes into account the total greenhouse gas footprint of vehicles and the global availability of energy. The keynote by Prof. Stefan Pischinger (RWTH Aachen University) reinforced the point: according to Pischinger, eFuels can deliver a CO₂-saving potential comparable to that of battery-electric vehicles when produced from renewable electricity, drivetrain efficiency can be pushed toward 50 percent, and significant optimisation potential still exists in passenger-car combustion engines. Pischinger argued that EU legislators should adopt a technology-open approach rather than a blanket combustion ban – a position increasingly visible in China’s industrial policy as well, where electric drivetrains, hybrids and renewable fuels are pursued in parallel.

Hybrids: smaller batteries, lower material demand

The hybrid sessions highlighted clear synergies between electric and combustion powertrains. A central advantage: combining both allows batteries to be sized smaller without compromising efficiency or everyday usability. The result is lower raw-material demand, reduced energy consumption in production, and lower manufacturing costs. Several Asian manufacturers presented advanced hybrid concepts, and Volkswagen announced a new family of hybrid models. Hybrids, the symposium concluded, remain a key building block on the road to climate-neutral mobility.

Engineering creativity beyond the regulatory frame

One of the most striking themes was the breadth of R&D directions that engineers presented – often well ahead of regulation. Concepts ranged from on-board CO₂ capture combined with fuels from microalgae (potentially enabling “negative emissions” at the vehicle level, where more CO₂ would be sequestered than released) to deeply electrified combustion architectures in which battery power supports exhaust after-treatment, cabin heating and ancillary functions. According to participants, current EU regulation does not yet accommodate such concepts. A dedicated session was devoted to range-extender configurations as a flexible Power-to-X-compatible architecture.

CLEPA: an alarm for European industrial competitiveness

Matthias Zink, president of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), used his keynote to warn about job losses across the European automotive value chain. According to CLEPA’s analysis, up to 3.2 million jobs at OEMs and suppliers are at risk. Europe is losing weight in the global market while China has gained significant share – partly, Zink argued, because EU policy has pushed strongly in one direction. He criticised the European Commission’s proposed Automotive Package as falling short of a genuine reform, with limited technological flexibility. A substantial part of value creation – the battery – is sourced from China, which also controls many of the critical raw materials. Several European battery projects have been cancelled due to cost pressure and dependency risks.

Europe vs. China: two different strategic frames

A special session moderated by Prof. Uwe Dieter Grebe (TU Vienna) compared the two strategic frameworks. China’s “Technology Roadmap 3.0” was described as a systems approach: technology openness rather than commitment to a single drivetrain, an explicit combination of e-mobility, hybrids and climate-neutral fuels, the combustion engine as part of electrified systems, and clear pathways for 2030, 2035 and 2040. Europe’s Green Deal, by contrast, was characterised as more one-dimensional: a focus on battery-electric vehicles, CO₂ regulation centred on tailpipe emissions, and a relatively minor role for eFuels and hybrids in the policy mix.

A recurring concern was that regulation is being designed on the basis of past trends, even though it must shape the next 20 to 30 years of vehicle development. Freezing technology pathways today, several speakers argued, risks limiting the innovation competition that drives progress.

Why this matters for Power-to-X

If hybrids, range-extenders and combustion engines remain a significant part of road, off-road and heavy-duty mobility for decades, the climate impact of those vehicles will depend on the fuels they burn. That is exactly where Power-to-X sits: green hydrogen, e-methanol, e-methane, synthetic gasoline, e-diesel and renewable SAF, all produced from renewable electricity and CO₂. The Vienna Motor Symposium did not present Power-to-X as an alternative to electrification – it presented it as a necessary complement to electrification for the existing and future combustion fleet.

SPIN Perspective

For the Swiss Power-to-X Collaborative Innovation Network, the Vienna debate underlines several points relevant to our members:

  • Demand certainty for renewable fuels: A technology-open regulatory frame is the single most powerful demand signal for Power-to-X investments. Without it, even cost-competitive synthetic fuels (see, for example, recent cost analyses from Synhelion) face an uncertain offtake market.
  • The fleet is the lever: Even under the most ambitious EV scenarios, hundreds of millions of combustion vehicles will remain on the world’s roads through the 2040s. Decarbonising them with eFuels is a Power-to-X mission, not a side project.
  • Industrial sovereignty: Europe’s vulnerability in the battery value chain has a counterpart in fuels – and Power-to-X is one of the few clean-energy value chains in which Europe still has the chance to build domestic capacity.

Claim categorisation: The figures cited (1,000 participants, 3.2 million jobs at risk, 50% efficiency potential, EU and China policy framings) are reported claims from the speakers and CLEPA, not independently verified by SPIN. The reading that hybrids and eFuels remain structurally important for the global vehicle fleet is a conclusion supported by multiple symposium contributions.

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