The European Commission has proposed a compromise to resolve the disagreement over the end of sales of cars with combustion engines from 2035. Under this proposal, new cars with combustion engines could still be sold if they can only be operated with e-fuels. However, the German Transport Minister Volker Wissing has refused to sign the draft law that had already been negotiated, triggering the dispute at short notice.
To address this, the Commission has suggested a new vehicle category for the EU that can only be operated with e-fuels. A technical procedure will prevent them from driving when other fuels are used. This proposal aims to provide automakers with a way to sell internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035, although the proposed EU law aims to ban the sale of new CO₂-emitting cars.
However, the BMDV could not be reached for a statement at short notice, and Wissing continues to reject the Commission’s proposal. Wissing does not want to completely reject the proposal, but he does not think it is sufficient. One point is that new engines would have to be developed for this. According to a report, the Ministry of Transport is working on its own proposal.
A Commission spokesman declined to comment on the draft document but referred to EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, who said last week that any solution would have to comply with the law agreed last year. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke had previously pointed out that the original draft contained a recital that would allow “even after 2035 vehicles that can only and demonstrably be fueled with e-fuels to be registered outside the car fleet limit values.”
Since the fleet limits determine the amount of greenhouse gas emissions of the cars currently in the program per manufacturer and the target value “zero” should be reached in around twelve years, cars with internal combustion engines that use fuels from petroleum would be out of the race.
