Government disagrees on combustion engine off

The dispute reached the ministers, according to government circles. Decisively, the Federal Ministry of Transport rejects a proposal from the environment department. Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) responded to protests by car manufacturers. The industry rejects stricter sales requirements if the member states are not also obliged to build charging infrastructure. The Ministry of Transport did not want to comment and referred to the lead environmental department. There it said: “The talks are still ongoing.”

Last summer, the EU Commission submitted its proposal on how the continent can also achieve the ambitious climate goals in the transport sector. According to this, manufacturers should reduce the emissions of their newly sold vehicles by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 2021. So far, the so-called fleet limit should drop by 37.5 percent. From 2035, according to the plan, manufacturers will only be allowed to sell zero-emission cars.

Minister Lemke wants to reduce CO2 emissions by 75 percent by 2030

The proposal does not go far enough for the German Environment Ministry. In view of the boom in electric cars, the industry will easily reach the limit values ​​​​for 2025 (minus 15 percent), it said. The end date for new cars with combustion engines should remain in 2035. However, emissions from new vehicle fleets are expected to fall by 75 percent by 2030. The house of Steffi Lemke (Greens) is also calling for interim targets for 2026 and 2028. If the manufacturers fail to meet them, there are severe penalties. And the currently popular plug-in hybrids, some of which run on electricity and some on petrol or diesel, should no longer be given preferential consideration. Environmental organizations go even further than the minister.

Basically, Minister Volker Wissing also supports higher target values. He has agreed with Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) that 15 million vehicles should be fully electric on German roads from 2030. After that, 1.8 million new e-mobiles would have to hit the streets every year from now on. In 2021 it was 355,961. With the previous fleet limit of 37.5 percent, only 5.7 million electric vehicles would be on the roads by 2030.

Again, the chicken-and-egg problem is being discussed: The energy network must be expanded and supplemented by a million publicly accessible charging stations. This is the goal of the old and new federal governments. However, little progress has been made so far. “We need a lot more speed,” said the spokeswoman for transport policy for the SPD parliamentary group, Dorothee Martin, recently in the Bundestag. 250 new charging points are created per week in Germany, but 2000 per week are needed. This is the only way to create “significantly more incentives to switch to electromobility”.

The transport department needs staff for more charging infrastructure

Wissing is responsible for the charging infrastructure. However, his house is far from being consistently geared towards e-mobility. There are only 9.1 full-time positions in the department for electromobility and charging infrastructure, of which very few can take care of all questions relating to the rapid expansion of the charging infrastructure. In the department for hydrogen and fuel cells in mobility, on the other hand, there are 7.8 full-time positions. However, only 228 fuel cell vehicles are on the road, but almost 600,000 pure electric vehicles and almost 500,000 plug-in hybrids. According to budget planning, the electrical department is to receive six additional positions this year.

Only recently have the few officials been supported by a national charging infrastructure control center. On the other hand, the National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW) has existed for many years and has been happily promoting hydrogen cars. As recently as January 25, the NOW CEO was delighted to reserve a “record sum” of 11.4 million euros for Allane Mobility Group (formerly Sixt Leasing), which plans to launch up to 800 Hyundai hydrogen cars. The purchase price of 70,000 euros is thus subsidized down by 14,300 euros per vehicle. “There are several ways to achieve climate neutrality in the transport sector,” he clarified. The 800 vehicles are “a strong signal to the market that shows that the fuel cell also has perspective in mobility in passenger cars”. A government commission had long since attested to a lack of market maturity and made it clear that “the greatest CO2 reduction potential should be achievable” with e-cars.

Wissing appoints a charging station officer

Wissing knows the challenges and has therefore even appointed a charging station officer for the first time. The FPD politician Daniela Kluckert asserted that “the charging of e-cars should be made easier and faster”. Charging with electricity must be “possible across the board in a short time, everywhere and barrier-free. We must and want to make progress here – in order to achieve our own climate protection goals and so that our companies have a strong home market.”

In his negative attitude to stricter limit values, Wissing can refer to the coalition agreement for the time being. In it, the SPD, Greens and FDP “support the proposals of the EU Commission” – no more, no less.

According to government circles, Germany can in principle signal readiness for ambitious fleet limits in Brussels. After all, without stricter limit values, measures would have to be taken in the national states to achieve the climate targets. A German position should then be defined in the course of the month, at the latest by the EU Council meeting in March.

More: Last chance for e-fuels: How the CDU wants to save the combustion engine