Still possible after 2035
The EU Commission is accommodating with Wissing on e-fuels
03/21/2023 12:04 p.m
Germany, in the person of Federal Transport Minister Wissing, is blocking the end of combustion engines after 2035 at EU level and is calling for an exception for e-fuels. The EU Commission is now taking a step towards the representatives of the combustion engine and is proposing a solution for passenger cars powered by e-fuels.
In the dispute over the end of combustion engines from 2035, the EU Commission approached the Federal Ministry of Transport. The Commission wants to continue to allow cars with combustion engines, provided they can only be refueled with so-called e-fuels, according to a regulatory proposal from the Brussels authorities, which was available to the Reuters news agency.
However, the prerequisite should be that the new vehicle category can only be operated with synthetic fuels generated with the help of electricity. The cars would have to be able to technically recognize when, for example, petrol or diesel had been filled up and then switch off automatically. Such a type class of cars could then also be re-registered after 2035.
The used car fleet could already continue to be fueled with e-fuels under the current legal situation. So far, however, these have hardly been produced and are considered scarce, expensive and inefficient. Therefore, according to the intention of the Commission, they should be reserved primarily for shipping or air traffic that cannot be operated directly with electricity.
However, Transport Minister Volker Wissing insists that new vehicles can also be powered by e-fuels. He had therefore surprisingly announced a veto against Germany’s approval of the largely unified end of combustion engines. Since other states have also joined, there is currently no majority for the original plans.