Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is in talks with E.ON (EONGn.DE) and Gazprom (GAZP.MM) to back its efforts to promote cars running on natural gas, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told Austria’s ORF radio.

Europe’s biggest carmaker is working on a shift toward electric cars and fuel-saving technologies as it looks to lower its fleet-wide carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and to overcome its diesel emissions scandal, according to Reuters.

“We are now really trying to think out of the box and find solutions that can be helpful at least in this transition period of 10 to 20 years,” Mueller said in the interview aired on Wednesday.

Separately, Mueller reiterated his opposition to offering payments to European customers affected by VW’s emissions cheating.

In the United States, VW has agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines and compensation payouts since admitting in September 2015 to cheating on federal diesel emissions tests.