The European Federation for Transport and the Environment (T&E) has published a study which comes as a surprise to European leaders who pride themselves on achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.
The European Commission has determined that from 2035, cars will not have to drastically reduce their CO2 emissions, up to 70% of what is currently observed with gasoline engines. For this reason, thermal engine cars will become obsolete. That said, there is a crack in this beautiful environmental veneer. Indeed, cars running on synthetic fuels will still be authorized. A paradoxical amendment imposed by Germany.
According to Transport and Environment, “the EU is preparing to grant an exemption to cars running on synthetic fuels. But while the European Commission says that only 100% carbon neutral e-fuels will be able to benefit from this exemption, the oil industry wants to weaken this criterion “. Indeed, according to calculations by this NGO, a comparison of well-to-wheel emissions (from electricity or fuel production to gas emissions) between different engines in 2035 shows very large disparities between engines electric and those running on synthetic gasoline.
Synthetic fuels are a “real waste of energy and money” according to this NGO
When a gasoline car emits the equivalent of 200 grams of CO2 per kilometer, an electric car only emits 13 g. E-fuel cars emit almost five times more than their electric battery counterparts. According to T&E therefore, “ e-fuels do not solve the air pollution problem “. Even worse, they emit as many air pollutants than normal fuels.
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T&E also highlights the many defects of synthetic fuel : filling up with synthetic gasoline will cost much more than running an electric vehicle or even a car running on fossil gasoline, e-fuels are much less efficient than an electric motor. According to T&E, powering a small portion of new cars with synthetic fuel, instead of electrifying them, would involve significantly increasing the production of renewable electricity in Europe to compensate, “a real waste of energy and money”.