aren't all that good for our health or the environment climate change and the diesel emissions scandal have seen the automotive industry hit a rough patch so is it good bye gas guzzlers comic as reinvent themselves and play a part in the future of mobility or is this the end of the road. despite all the bad press there are signs that the combustion engine won't sputter out for good at least not anytime soon as our reporter found out there are all sorts of new fuel like synthetic ones that can significantly reduce the engines carbon footprint. invented 140 years ago it's politics countless cars around the world and provided the driving force for entire industries all reliable old friend the internal combustion engine and all of a sudden it's history in china house official leave rolled out a plan to land gasoline cars france the united kingdom and india all they're all doing it is out of gasoline and diesel fuel vehicle here in germany a court has ruled in favor of banning diesel vehicles same parts of the car industry isn't nearly happy about when you want to do on the recent electric that sounds good for the movie shows some people are claiming hey we've got the perfect solution for making the combustion engine carbon neutral and i would love that because then i could do this. without having any regrets and for the sound doesn't go further than the capsule and the. blue. and these are the silver bullets to save the combustion engine supposedly straw that is processed into bio methane and the latest innovation fuel that can be created from thin air. 5 tons of straw processed here every hour every day or this is a lot of soul. the straw used is what's left over from the harvest. the company verb buys it up and turns it into bio methane. then it's sold to more tourists at filling station. and. germany there are currently just 100000 vehicles that can run on bio methane on natural gas not many considering there are more than 47000000 cars on the road and that's despite the fact that fueling with wildcats produces 90 percent fewer greenhouse gases and costs us less than gasoline costs cars that run on earth have less mileage there are only a few gas stations that have it and your while it will cost you. have the moment by methane isn't very popular. producers say they need more political support as much as finding. things need to change at the political level biofuels such as rapeseed all made locally have many environmental benefits but there needs to be a push politically and a significant carbon reduction commitment has to be in place and the pressure is on to develop new technologies and new biofuels after the. already has gone is going to go. for a car that runs on bio fuel it's a pretty smooth ride. so there's a myth about these cars that has been busted it's a process that was so that they don't have to publish after watching cars that used to be a problem because the engines got so much more involved and it's really not longer an issue and pedal to the metal is still a lot of fun. right. the problem is there just isn't enough biomass. and that's the major limiting factor and ways to fuel proposals according to lower buffett even as far off as 2050 biofuels would only replace 11 percent of the kerosene that's. needed in europe's every nation in the street. in tradition for residuals are limited. in our everyday lives we all try to reduce waste so we're not sitting at a stage where we have. said. and in addition to that there's a lot of other industries that. move away from fossil based threats so all of these are unsound to the fact that they will always be a limited amount of. energy and for transport. ok it was worth a try but from thin air they could rescue the combustion engine couldn't they. that's what they're working on applecarts institute of technology fuels from air capture carbon dioxide are produced inside these containers in the hydrogen and c o 2 are turned into gaseous hydrocarbons further processing turns them into liquid synthetic fuel. there are norms in place already in some areas and our fuel in other words i can fill up my car with it i don't need to worry about safety issues when i'm driving around in the middle of comes so if a person fuel is almost carbon neutral as long as the entire production process is powered exclusively by excess electricity from renewable sources but it's still early days in the development of such a tactic you know you can sniff it it's not dangerous that's not ok let's go live to it smells quite strong. this is for the common interests not like the smell off a gas station function in the world this is our politics but all these electricity based since he was have some mine are. all that green electricity has to be generated in the 1st place and that can only happen when they're fed up. with water . to produce as much if you will for all of germany's transport needs it would take around half of all the electricity currently generated in the entire country the new fuel isn't cheap either about 4 years 50 elite or one of the country's water power delivery fleet with a synthetically produced fuel that's a little cheaper than that. the company believes the age of the internal combustion engine has not yet cost. i don't think the combustion engine is there we need customized concept combustion engines will be around for another few years but there are also electric cars hopefully also new technologies new solutions will have to be customized i'd say that's the key issue this isn't. so is it the end of the road for the tried and trusted technology on the. well it doesn't look too good for the. upcoming new technologies. biofuel if you would. at least. it's clear that we need all of these technologies electricity. fuel to keep our heads above water when it comes to climate change. i hope to keep . the. greens won't like that well some car makers and car owners are still hoping the diesel will make a comeback despite its tarnished reputation diesel vehicles don't spew out quite as much carbon dioxide as regular cars that run on petrol but they do heap of health harming nitrogen oxides and particulate matter so tiny a competitor deep into the body the pollution they cause has led to bans in some german cities for example in stuttgart for all but the cleanest easels our reporter you are set out to find out more about the pros and cons of diesel. this is the banner that bet all showing off takes to demonstrations he's always driven to work in stuttgart but since early last year he's no longer allowed to do so. or borderline drunk in the banner says no to the driving ban we think it's unfair that diesel car drivers are garnished because of a botched traffic policy for polluting. so you're an activist and i just. i wouldn't call myself an activist i'm just politically active i would consider it civic participation. fighting for justice precisely. his diesel car sounds a bit like tractor. commander from 2007 it's a mission standard is 04 it was state of the art when i bought it. what is hero for me. categorized from one to 6 according to their exhaust emissions. banned in stuttgart yes so we're breaking the law i mean i wouldn't call what we're doing a criminal act it's a traffic offense. fined 108 euros. the diesel ban applies to all of stuttgart but no one pulls us over. my next stop in the city is this air quality measuring station the absolution on this stretch of road used to be the worst in germany japan was introduced on the strength of the data collected here and the ban has made a difference exhaust pollution has decreased over the past year now the only diesels allowed to drive here are latest generation ones that produce very low levels of harmful exhaust emissions. sadie's is based in stuttgart and it still makes diesel cars it was implicated in the diesel emissions cheating scandal the 1st company to be unmasked was volkswagen later it turned out that my safety's had also been cheating claiming its diesel engines were cleaner less polluting than they really were it has cost my sadie's billions and dented its reputation. to. is in charge of engine development at the company. one wonders why it's still working on diesel powered models. customers trust you. because emission levels have been checked and confirmed by independent external bodies they tested engines like this their own locations and they confirmed. this is the engine he's referring to. it's a diesel electric hybrid designed to power an s.u.v. . only manufacturer to make. the great advantage is that fuel consumption is low on longer trips and with its large capacity high voltage battery it's entirely emissions free tailpipe. emissions for purely electric no emissions coming out the tailpipe. but only in electric mode. while cities evidently thinks that diesel has a future industry analysts do not. know how much time is left on. 10 or 15 years. battery powered cars will be so far advanced that there will be hardly any deficit in terms of usability or performance compared to today's combustion engines. well until diesel and gasoline a gone for good if ever the current catch phrase when it comes to cost is highbridge means a combo of combustion engine and electric motor we visited $1.00 of germany's biggest automotive supply is to find out how it's being gearing up for a hybrid electric future. this electorate motor is destined for a mercedes germany's said f group has been making car parts for more than a century. your golden tossed heads the electro mobility compartment as the combustion engine falls out of favor of electric cars and hybrid drives are the future despite the company's decades of experience technology for electric cars is still uncharted territory for them. an electric motor is much more efficient than a combustion engine it just hasn't been through the long history of optimization that the combustion engine has always and i think that's the achievement of german engineering in particular and so this is where the journey really begin that's also a good site on. electric motors are easy to produce because they have fewer components than combustion engines. the technology is less difficult to develop which means there is much more competition which are just by the companies decades of experience technology for electric cars is still uncharted territory for them. an electric motor is much more efficient than a combustion engine it just hasn't been through the long history of optimization that the combustion engine has always and i think that's the achievement of german engineering in particular and so this is where the journey really begin that's. almost. electric motors are easy to produce because they have fewer components than combustion engines. the technology is less difficult to develop which means there is much more competition. i mean look forward to building an electric motor isn't just something that's done in the west there are now supplies all over the world that provide all manner of electric motors all kinds of applications. that competition means workers have to be flexible there are $50000.00 in the sector in germany alone which products are updated every 2 to 4 years and workflows change at the same time sales of german cars are slumping on global markets the total number of cars produced in germany fell in 20182900. 50 employees and the works council have worked hard over the past year to ensure that we actively embrace the changes but in the knowledge that we have security that the company will hold on to its workers were going to. face the. he said has agreed to cut no jobs for the next 5 years no one knows for sure whether the promise will be honored though. the rapid technology race also puts enormous pressure on the engineers they are designing motors and other parts and anticipation of their use years from now one can't dance class when a manufacturer puts an order out to tender in this field we have significantly more competitors than we have established products in some places well over 10. this automatic transmission is symbolic of the changing industry it's still being used in cars with combustion engines but it has its own built in electric motor. the automotive industry supplier received a double digit 1000000000 euro order for a plug in hybrid engine it's based on technology that's becoming an increasingly significant part of its business. at 24 i don't feel thrilled to have won several big orders will our new 4th generate. 8 speed automatic transmission some of the clients are well known car makers like b.m.w. chrysler. g.m. . chrysler. the industry is going through radical changes technology for pure combustion engines is not so much in demand anymore that have can compensate for this with their new trick and hybrid business but many other traditional suppliers are feeling the strain. now for the elephant in the room do we actually need cars in cities if there is a good system of public transportation and bike lanes and sidewalks to walk on of course many cities don't fulfill those requirements unfortunately according to my colleague christine us women are more likely the men to shake off the shackles of car ownership at least here in. and by the way i take my scooter and use public transportation to get around berlin it's the quickest and nicest way for me to travel to work in torch of ellisville. but it was what is the urban travel of gender to do men and women do it differently . that you. believe in but lingo local i don't drive myself in berlin i have a driver you can see during the ride i work read or chat with my friends you know the tram it's really quite literally us. what is going on i don't get why some people would rather drive battle the traffic and arrive at work in a followup. believe that it seems to be a gender thing in the way we get around in big cities and here women are more apt to take public transportation or walk while almost half of men drive. but i know ours are a status symbol for them so less so for women doesn't matter what. the . rest consequently at that means women coast less pollution we move more ecologically is my 2nd look i'll. let you guys times have changed your travel habits need to change to the want to. see that it was we do take public transportation. yes and joy to fresh air to read a book to get to work feeling relax you can do yourself and the planet a favor when all and everyone and everything will benefit those. it's. a good idea but i'm not sure everyone is so keen to give up the thrill of being behind the wheel true it may be more of a man's game but what do you expect just look at the volvo logo nevertheless volvo is keeping up with the times and has decided to focus solely on developing models that will have a reduced environmental impact it's been a rocky road for the swedish car maker but it may now be back on track as a subsidiary of a chinese automotive group with a commitment to an electric future. the new volvo s u v quite the gas guzzler you might think but it has both an electric motor and a combustion engine in the city covering short distances its fuel consumption is lower making for guilt free driving even the long distance it's the same as any s.u.v. . henrik green is head engineer at volvo he regularly uses the company's test circuit in sweden the full electric variant is expected to come out this year we are fully dedicated we are not hesitating whether or not it should be a pure electric future i see many of our competitors still on that secondly we are probably among the smallest steel premium car companies and we have a very. good technology architecture so for us to actually transition our entire vehicle portfolio is probably not less complicated compared to many of the bigger car companies. the black cliff e.m.i. and battery weighing 200 kilograms is destined for a hybrid motor here at the volvo factory in gothenburg sweden. carolina kellin is one of 8000 engineers designing the company's new electric models. in 2020 we are expecting. 20 percent of our total sadist to be hybrids and looking a bit farther along in $15155.00 we take a step longer and expect. or able to have 50 percent of our sadist to be fully electric cars volvo plans to roll out a new electric model every year and ambitious plan but is it realistic. in the past 10 years the swedish company has seen steady growth. sales amounted 237-0000 cars in 2010 and climbed 270-0000 in 2019 largely thanks to a chinese investor. well i mean it's definitely a new spirit i remember the 1st time i heard mr address the volvo team after the acquisition and he spoke about releasing the tiger and as i see it it was to create trust in our society build for us to acquire new competence and build the competence we have and really becoming a leading company in 2010 volvo was struggling then it was bought by chinese billionaire lee shoe fruit who also bought a 10 percent stake in diner with the help of the bank of china the shoe flu is chairman of the julie group one of china's largest automakers. the launch of pole star soon followed a new brand jointly owned by volvo in chile. production takes place in china design and development in gothenburg. we of course do common sourcing when it comes to. important elements like batteries and stuff that is of course with the scale effect of the group is important of course we do not have to invent each and every detail on our own we built a pulse or 2 in the existing pronged which saves money volvo pollstar in g. components such as this chassis as well as engineers gili employs another 1600 people in the volvo development division and often but. the aim is to develop electric motors in batteries and house rather than buying them from supply is. this 2nd generation that we are heavily undergoing in development right now will be developed in the house and we are taking big steps on energy efficiency and weight deficiency also the high voltage battery. volvo plans to be manufacturing many electric hybrid vehicles in 20 years time the company is confident that the future is electric. maybe the combustion engine is on its way out after all made today thanks for joining us. on twitter or facebook as you know we're always keen to get your thoughts and comments see you again today. sure there. are also for information they provide the kenyans they want to express g.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch follow us. on the road with our superheroes my mission is clear kushti get anthony close early show explore germany. take dollars and. everything out there's a lot going on and. surely try to test it. on t.v. w. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language the 1st word in the nico using germany to sunshine. why not permit him. to snuff it simple are mine on your mobile and free. double using learning course speak german made easy. the chance to laugh. at them from people make fun about their own social economic and political problems. in mozambique we say that you have to laugh so you don't write it's how people called me a liberal. as a journalist to talk about these folks in that binds the less local to me. i actually stop my day by checking all to all those jokes finding out what people are talking about what is moving them. my father taught me how to ask and confront the book questions about my country and about the book that is why i keep doing to state my name is fadi stuff and i work at. going to. the be . this is did every news live from berlin no love lost donald trump delivers his 3rd state of the union address before a deeply partisan and polarized congress while the us president refuses a handshake from democratic leader nancy pelosi before defending his record in the white house speaker pelosi makes clear what she thinks of his speech. also coming up as a coronavirus fatalities continue to stack up.