Growing awareness over climate change has changed the perspective towards IC vehicles. Automotive companies nowadays are planning to increase the production of electric vehicles (EVs), as they help curb carbon emissions. Daimler AG, a German multinational automotive corporation, recently made a move by announcing plans to produce 50,000 Mercedes EQC EVs in 2020. A Daimler spokesperson confirmed this announcement in a recent meeting, however, added that the production plans for 2020 are yet to be amended. According to the latest norms, carmakers will face heavy penalties from 2021 if they fail to minimize their fleet's overall emission levels. Earlier in 2018, average fleet emissions from Daimler had touched 130.4 grams of CO2 per kilometer. As for 2021's emission goals, the German carmaker needs to meet 103.1 grams per km. If it fails to meet these targets by 2021, the company would have to pay a fine of $1.1 billion (997 million euros), suggest sources. Reportedly, average carbon emissions in the EU shot up by 1.6% to 120.4 grams per kilometer in 2018 as consumers dumped diesel vehicles for bigger vehicles. Speaking on the move, Michael Brecht, works council chief, Daimler, said that one of the reasons their firm is having a hard time fulfilling battery demand is owing to Tesla, a renowned electric carmaker, which acquired battery automation company, Grohmann Engineering, which was back then tasked with the responsibility to develop batteries for Mercedes-Benz. In a move to expand its efforts towards sustainable production, Daimler has recently decided to test UBQ Materials Ltd.'s recycled waste to see if it can find any application in car parts of its new models. Israel-based UBQ has successfully developed a method to transform waste, such as paper, food, packaging, and dirty plastics, into a substitute of thermoplastic which can be further used in everyday products ranging from pipes and shopping carts to automotive materials. Source Credit: https://in.reuters.com/article/us-daimler-electric-eqc/daimler-to-build-50000-mercedes-eqc-models-this-year-idINKBN1ZM1SA