The European Commission has announced that it has reached a commitment with the German Government to include internal combustion engines that use synthetic fuels in the list of vehicles that can be sold from 2035. The agreement was advanced on social networks by the Vice-President of the Commission in charge of the energy transition, Frans Timmermans which has said that from now on “we will work towards the adoption of CO2 standards for cars as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow up quickly with the necessary legal steps to implement it”.
Legislation that will ban sales of new cars that use fossil fuels from 2035 is the most important part of the EU’s ambitious plan to be an emissions-neutral economy by 2050. However, at the last moment, Germany first and Italy and other countries later expressed doubts about the advisability of outright prohibiting the registration of cars with internal combustion engines.
The German government specifically asked the community executive to leave open the possibility that cars with traditional engines survive if they use synthetic fuels produced from renewable energy sources.
We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of efuels in cars.
We will work now on getting the CO2-standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow-up swiftly with the necessary legal steps to implement recital 11.
— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) March 25, 2023
The German Transport Minister, Volker Wissingwho in recent days had been very pessimistic about the possibilities of resolving this dilemma, said yesterday, also on social networks, that with this agreement with the Commission, vehicles with combustion engines could continue to be registered after 2035 if they only use fuels that be neutral in their CO2 emissions.
Synthetic fuels are still in a development phase but German manufacturers hope that they will allow the use of combustion engines in the future without producing harmful emissions for the environment and climate. Last week a Commission proposal was leaked that foresees, in effect, the possibility of authorizing the sale and registration of cars with internal combustion engines as long as they are equipped with a system that allows to know if they are really using synthetic fuel and that under no circumstances can they run on gasoline from fossil hydrocarbons.
Experts have not yet agreed on whether vehicles powered by synthetic fuels can compete in a market against electric cars that are expected to get cheaper over time, although others believe they may be a good formula as a transitional technology.
If the current position of the Commission pleases Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary, it remains to be seen if the rest of the countries will now agree with the solution that Timmermans has proposed to save internal combustion engines. The aim of the EU is zero out CO2 emissions from new vehicles, with the plan that will forcefully impose the implementation of emission-free vehicles from 2035.