IASTEC describes itself as an “international association of professors and researchers worldwide working on vehicle and drivetrain research at famous universities”.
Professor Thomas Koch, listed on the IASTEC website as contact for the group and is one of the lead authors of the paper, defended the group, telling DeSmog it was “an academic initiative without any interaction of industry”.
Koch, who worked for German car manufacturer Daimler for 10 years, said the paper does “emphasise the necessity of battery EVs for plenty of applications. it also emphasises the necessity of alternative technical solutions”.
Poliskanova said it was time to stop questioning EVs and accelerate their uptake for the sake of the planet, with “electric cars today already significantly better for the environment than the oil engines they replace”.
Meanwhile Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed the Tesla Roadster EV, originally scheduled to begin production in 2020, “should ship in 2023”, providing there are no major drams.
“2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship,” he tweeted.
