Last details still open
EU response to e-fuels makes Wissing optimistic
03/24/2023 2:53 p.m
There is a lively exchange between the Federal Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission about how the regulation for CO2 limits for new cars does not exclude combustion cars powered by e-fuels. The agreement isn’t a done deal yet, but: “Things are looking good now,” says Wissing.
In the dispute over the end of combustion engines, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing expressed his confidence in an agreement with the European Commission based on a proposal he had submitted. “This is a path that has now been answered by the EU Commission with a letter that makes me optimistic,” said Wissing in a press statement. “Now the last legal questions still have to be clarified as far as the technical implementation of this proposal is concerned,” he emphasized. He told ARD: “It looks good now.”
They want to ensure that the switch to climate-neutral mobility does not just rely on one technology. “We have better command of the internal combustion engine in Europe than anyone else in the world, especially here in Germany we are leaders in this technology,” emphasized the FDP politician. “To ban this technology now makes no sense, because multiple offers create more and more competition and better prices for the citizens.”
The goal of only allowing climate-neutral vehicles from 2035 is not being called into question, emphasized Wissing. However, combustion cars that could only be operated with synthetic fuels (e-fuels) should also be permitted. According to his proposal, the category of “vehicles with internal combustion engines and synthetic fuels” should be created and its integration into the existing and future regime is necessary. “We have to take very specific steps, including timetables, so that we know that this is coming,” emphasized Wissing. “This has now been prepared with the EU Commission, but there are still questions to be clarified.”
A spokesman for Wissing had previously stated that the central elements of the German proposal were a commitment by the Commission to technology neutrality and the anchoring of this principle in the fleet limit value regulations, an immediate creation of the vehicle category “e-fuels only”, the possibility of registering these vehicles and by autumn 2023 at the latest the enactment of a delegated act that integrates e-fuels vehicles into the fleet limits and legally guarantees their approval even after 2023.
“We want cars that run on climate-friendly fuels to be able to be newly registered in the future,” Wissing himself said on Twitter. “Our proposal to the EU Commission is the end of the combustion engine.” At the beginning of March, Wissing opposed the final adoption of the planned end of combustion engines from 2035 and asked the Commission to honor a previously made commitment to make the proposal an exception for e-fuels. This had caused irritation among several European partners.