"Nope" on the end of combustion engines: EU car turnaround with the handbrake on

It is out with that Combustion engine off: German EU parliamentarians euphorically broadcast this fundamental message to the world last Friday. But the sensitive details of this decision continued to be debated for hours in the EU Commission in Brussels on Tuesday.

The media was put off hour after hour. It wasn’t until early in the evening that those responsible came forward Commissioners presented their concept for the car revolution to the press.

90 instead of 100, but how?

This offers at least a broad picture of where the EU’s journey in the automotive future should lead. The final end to new cars with combustion engines, which was actually planned for 2035, is off the table. The previously planned 100 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will be replaced by a 90 percent reduction.

This package will be a lifeline for Europe’s auto industry. We pull out all the stops we have.

Stéphane Séjourné / EU-Industriekommissar

90 percent have to be electric cars

This refers to the entire fleet – i.e. all cars produced – by a manufacturer. This makes it possible to build cars with other engines in addition to cars with fully electric drives. This means that so-called „Plug-in-Hybride“i.e. those with actual charging options, and electric cars with one „Range Extender“ meant. This is a small combustion engine whose only job is to recharge the batteries and thus increase the range. Chinese manufacturers are already increasingly relying on this technology. Pure combustion engines, i.e. gasoline and diesel, are still possible, but they have to be extremely economical in order not to make the greenhouse gas fleet targets completely unattainable for the manufacturers. Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra made it clear once again: “90 percent of cars have to be electric.”

A similar regulation should also apply to trucks and other heavy vehicles. Manufacturers’ fleets should have 40 percent less CO from 2030₂ emit, so far it was 50 percent.

Green in balance

But this one ten percent greenhouse gases from the exhaust exists according to the Commission’s plans not for nothing. To compensate for this, there are two options: either for building the car Steel used is greeni.e. produced using “solar power” hydrogen, or the fuels come from biological materials. Italy in particular has pushed for this possibility more Ethanol or biodiesel as fuels to use. The “green” steel must also come from the EU: a concession to the ailing steel industry.

But the Commission’s automobile package does not only contain the politically controversial reduction in CO2 emissions₂goals, but should also create incentives to make the transition to electric cars faster and, above all, more European.

E-Auto Made in Europe

Europe’s car manufacturers should create a new generation of small, affordable electric cars. For the production of these also in length – Less than 4.2 meters are planned – restricted vehicles, the Commission wants to grant special interest-free loans to the industry. Those too Vehicle fleets of large companies should be converted to electricity more quickly with generous subsidies. The rule also applies here: Only electric cars that are manufactured in Europe are given preferential treatment for tax purposes or loans.

But the entire package of measures that the Commission has now published after lengthy political wrangling has not yet reached its goal. That too The EU Parliament and the EU member states must agree.

Since the first reports there have been cross shots from all directions. The Bavarian CSU wants Instead of 90 percent, a maximum of 70 percent reduction in CO₂-emissions. The factions on the right-wing political fringe in the EU Parliament are already against regulations for greenhouse gases in cars and want to overturn any compromise.

From the combustion engine off: reactions

Die Reactions from Austria to the end of the combustion engine in the EU turned out very differently. In any case, local representatives of the motor vehicle industry said they were “relieved” and that their demands were “at least partially implemented”. Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) saw the EU Commission’s proposals as going in the right direction, but they “do not go far enough.”

The liberal European Parliamentarian identified a “deceit” by the European People’s Party (EPP). Roman Haider. Overall, the Commission is “continuing to do everything in its power to make the construction of classic combustion engines and affordable conventional vehicles impossible.”

The SPÖ delegation leader in the EU Parliament was also critical, Andreas Schieder. He spoke of a “fundamentally wrong step” by the commission, which is “racing at full speed towards a climate crash with right-wing and conservative forces in the passenger seat”. “This ghost ride has to end.”

The Green EU politician Lena Schilling criticized: “This Commission proposal is not just ecological nonsense, but an attack on European industry.” NEOS MEPs Anna Stürgkh spoke of a “U-turn with which Europe is undermining trust in European politics”. The change towards future-proof technologies will now probably be “overslept for even longer” and the “car market of the future will be left to others”.