The EU is easing the ban on combustion engines, but according to an expert, it does not mean a return to the old days

Cars the ban on combustion engines is relaxed in the EU.

The sale of new gasoline and diesel cars was supposed to end in 2035, but now the European Commission is proposing a 90 percent emission reduction instead of a 100 percent ban.

If the previous limit had remained, it would have allowed only zero-emission cars, i.e. fully electric cars, to the market.

Mitigation now gives automakers room to keep some internal combustion engines in their lineup. However, manufacturers must compensate for the emission share of one tenth.

For that, you can use low-emission steel made within the Union or make cars run on a fuel other than fossil fuels. Such is, for example, synthetic gasoline created in a laboratory.

“Yes, the clear message here is that the commission didn’t make a 180-degree turn, and it wasn’t expected either. So there’s no going back to having an unlimited choice of combustion engine cars alongside electricity,” commented the CEO of Autotuojat ja teollisuus ry to HS Tero Kallio.

“Yes, the internal combustion engine will remain a curiosity after 2035.”

In any case, the decision allows to develop them and hybrids. The Commission states that these technologies will have a “role after 2035”.

Kallio reminds that the charging network in Eastern Europe is bad in some places, so manufacturers allocate more internal combustion engines there than, say, in Finland.

“Yes, the internal combustion engine will remain a curiosity after 2035.”

Package affects large companies. They must offer a certain number of low-emission and zero-emission cars already in 2030.

With this information, the means are left to be decided nationally. Kallio thinks it’s wise. If leasing companies were forced to acquire a huge number of electric cars, they would bear a big risk of a collapse in residual values.

“Even large companies could have collapsed in the worst case.”

Small and cheap electric cars will henceforth receive support from the Union; the system is called supercredits.

There will also be emission reductions for vans. Their emissions had to be halved by 2030. Now the goal is a 40 percent drop. This is being done because electrifying vans has been “structurally more difficult” in the Commission’s opinion.

Original the ban was approved in the EU last season, but it quickly began to unravel.

Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, known for their car industry, are calling for the ban to be changed. The rumor mill about watering down the ban is accelerated throughout the fall for.

Electric car manufacturers and environmental organizations, on the other hand, are against the mitigations and consider it a setback at a time when Chinese brands are bringing cheap electric cars to the old continent.

The Commission communicates that the legal package gives a “strong market signal” to move towards zero-emission vehicles, but at the same time more “flexibility” in emissions policy.

Tuesday the published legal package will still be considered by the parliament and the member states.

It’s going to be contentious. France recently announced that it considers the package too flexible and the German car manufacturers’ association too restrictive.

The package does not affect cars that are already in use: You can drive old internal combustion engines as before.