BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has drawn up a plan to authorize the sale of new combustion-engined cars after 2035 if they run on carbon-neutral “e-fuels” (synthetic fuels), according to an executive document European consulted by Reuters.
Yielding to German pressure, the Commission is proposing that such vehicles could be among those authorized from 2035, on the condition that their technology is capable of preventing them from rolling if other fuels are used, indicates the document describing the proposals from the EU executive to the German Ministry of Transport.
After months of negotiations, EU countries and the European Parliament agreed last year on a law to ban the sale of new combustion engine cars and vans in the EU from 2035, but its entry into force was suspended earlier this month after unexpected opposition from Germany.
A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the draft document. He did, however, refer to comments by Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, who said last week that any solution had to comply with the 2035 phase-out law, agreed last year.
“Discussions are continuing between the Commission and the German authorities,” the spokesperson said.
Germany’s transport ministry said on Monday talks with the Commission on the planned end of new combustion engines from 2035 were progressing, but added it could not say when a deal would be reached.
E-fuels (or “e-fuels”) are made by synthesizing captured CO2 emissions and produced hydrogen from CO2-free electricity.
(Report Markus Wacket and Kate Abnett, written by Riham Alkousaa, French version Gaëlle Sheehan, edited by Diana Mandiá and Kate Entringer)
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