Europe’s ICE Ban in Question as Door Opens to E-Fuels
The ban on new internal combustion vehicles in Europe from 2035 may be avoided after all as the European Commission has announced a new review into its plans to de-carbonize the car industry.
In her first speech to the group, newly re-elected E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyden said, “a technology-neutral approach is required, in which e-fuels will play a role by specifically amending the regulations as part of the planned review.”
Only a year ago the European Parliament and its member states appeared to sign the death warrant for combustion-powered cars by agreeing that vehicles would no longer be allowed to emit any carbon dioxide from 2035. However, a robust campaign from the German and Italian governments appears to have resulted in a change of heart.
German Minister President of Saxony Michale Kretschme welcomed the move. “We shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to individual mobility—politicians don’t know any better than the market and the tens of millions of drivers in the E.U.,” he said.
Sales of battery-electric cars in Europe, and globally, have dropped recently, with car makers from Mercedes to Porsche having to revise their EV ambitions.
“The transition to electric cars is taking longer than we thought five years ago,” said Porsche in statement to investors. “Our product strategy is set up such that we could deliver over 80 percent of our vehicles as all electric in 2030—dependent on customer demand and the development of electromobility.”
As Europe opens the door to carbon neutral E-fuels consumers will have even less incentive to make the switch to electric, especially those with a passion for high performance.
“We believe there is still a valid way forward for ICE cars and this is going to be supported by the development of carbon-neutral fuel,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna told Autocar.
Well the reality is being felt that EV is not for everyone and every application. Expense and charging times can be an issue for many till things improve.
The E fuels will not be cheap also. It will take time for them to get cheaper and to make them work as well in all ICE applications.
This is more about the push from activist and the political folks. It is far from over.
Automakers will slow release of EV models but the development will continue. Every election can be a change in the regulations.
And yet, Porsche has already announced the death of the gas Boxster. That’s not going to play well in the US, with long distances and poor charging infrastructure in much (most?) of the country.
carbon neutral E-fuels – this will likely be very expensive. It is terribly expensive at the moment.
Europe has a great mass transit intrastructure so long distance travel is easy so commuter car will work America needs to work on mass transit so we do not need long distance ev cars or charger station on. Every corner
For mass transit to be cost effective, it needs to be operating at or near capacity at all times. It is an economy of scale situation. Example, a half empty flight spends more money on fuel and other items to fly than it is recouping in passenger fare. This is why mass transit in the US is only in cities, since that is the only way to have full or near full capacity for economy of scale. A Greyhound bus with only 2 passengers on board driving through 2 states would be massively less efficient that those 2 passengers traveling in 2 efficient cars, but 50 passengers on a bus is way more efficient than 50 cars. Having rail running the vast distances our nation has at less than full capacity would basically be more expensive and less environmentally friendly than other options, which is why we have more airline flights and small airliners than European nations. The problem for mass transit in the US is our large land area, coupled with significant rural populations compared to Europe, doesn’t play will for mass transit infrastructure. Texas, for example, is so big that someone in Texas could drive a car for 8-10 hours and still be in Texas. To drive home this point, in 2019 a study found that there are 19,500 incorporated townships/villages/cities in the US, 76% of those have populations under 5000. Now, try to connect 15,000 small towns with rail/bus routes/etc that would operate with far less than full capacity, and do so cost effectively. It literally cannot be done with current technology, hence many small airports and long haul buses, as that is the only way we can for now.
From our house outside Houston to Texline, Texas (on the New Mexico state line for a trip to Colorado) is a little over 700 miles. Driving with family is 14 hours. And that’s not the longest drive across the state.
Windsor, Ontario to Kenora, Ontario, by an all Canadian route (not taking a short-cut through the USA) according to Google maps is 22 hours and 19 minutes of driving (1,365 miles – or 2,184 kilometers) – and you’re still not quite at the Manitoba border yet!
e-fuel is a long way from helping the working poor to middle class afford mobility.
This is about high-end status symbol vehicles for the elites.
Ironic when an automotive article takes me back to studying George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” in grade 9…