The shift to zero-emission mobility needs to be considered as a marathon not a dash, in line with the CEO of Germany’s Mercedes-Benz.

Chatting with “Squawk Field Europe,” Ola Kallenius sought to focus on the massive problem going through the automotive business within the years forward because it shifts its focus towards electrical autos (ESs).

“I feel now we have to comprehend that the transition to zero-emission driving is known as a marathon, and I imagine we’re perhaps on kilometer eight or kilometer 9 on that journey proper now,” he advised CNBC’s Annette Weisbach Thursday. “So it isn’t one thing that we must always have a look at as a dash. The strategic course is obvious — we’re investing into the long run, we’ll go zero-emission.”

Kallenius stated Mercedes-Benz’s EVs had obtained a “good reception” to date. The automaker’s EV fashions embrace the EQA, EQB and the EQE SUV. 

His feedback got here because the Mercedes-Benz Group reported earnings for the second quarter this week. Earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes rose 8% to hit 5 billion euros, or roughly $5.48 billion.

In the case of EVs, its battery electrical automobile gross sales reached 61,211 in comparison with 31,259 within the second quarter of 2022. Plug-in hybrid gross sales for the second quarter got here in at 34,699, a slight improve on the 32,335 bought in the identical interval final 12 months.

“We’ve an entire host of our, so to talk, first technology electrical autos available on the market now,” Kallenius advised CNBC Thursday. “And there, we’re gaining momentum.”

The enterprise was additionally, he defined, “investing in new architectures” that would seem towards the center of the 2020s and “outline our electrical play for the second half of this decade.”

“So we’re bullish on electrical autos and nil emission driving and we’re placing billions into it,” he added.

Nonetheless, Kallenius did stress the significance of sustaining what he known as tactical flexibility relating to balancing EVs with conventional autos. “On this case, our manufacturing community is versatile to provide each high-tech electrified combustion engines and electrical autos,” he added.

The Mercedes chief’s feedback come as main economies around the globe formulate plans to maneuver away from autos that use fossil fuels in favor of electrical vehicles.

With nearly all of vehicles on the street nonetheless utilizing diesel or gasoline, any shift to low- and zero-emission mobility represents an enormous job for lawmakers and companies.

Regardless of this, some elements of the world are already seeing vital adjustments.

Within the U.Ok., as an example, the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants stated Thursday that electrified automobile manufacturing — which incorporates hybrid electrical, plug-in hybrid and battery electrical vehicles — reached 170,231 between January and June 2023, a document for the primary half of a 12 months.